Post by Michael Parness

Looking back over my career, one pattern I’ve seen repeatedly is that the strongest firms aren’t always the firms with the most resources. They’re often the firms that become exceptionally good at leveraging resources beyond their own walls. Sometimes that means a trusted specialist. Sometimes an outside advisor. Sometimes an association, alliance or community. Sometimes a relationship built years earlier becomes exactly the expertise or perspective the firm needs. The firms that do this well often create capabilities that far exceed their size. I’ve come to believe that many firms don’t suffer from a lack of resources. They suffer from a lack of visibility into the resources available to them. The challenge is rarely access. The challenge is activation.