At some point, every business runs into challenges the current team can’t quite solve. Maybe it’s breaking into a new market, fixing a process that keeps slowing you down, or tackling a problem that needs a completely different skill set. It happens in every growth journey, often more than once.
When faced with this, most leaders do one of three things: hire someone with the right background, try to develop the skills internally through training or mentorship, or ask a fellow business leader who may have had a similar experience. All three make sense, but there’s a reality many people miss: real expertise isn’t something you can grab in a quick meeting or by copying someone else’s plan.
True know‑how is built over years of hands-on work, trial and error, seeing patterns, and applying those lessons in real situations. Passing that along takes more than a quick coffee chat. It’s a process, and both sides have to lean into that process.
If an expert is going to help, they need the time to understand your specific situation, and you need to be willing to put in the work to absorb and apply what you learn. A rushed opinion, no matter how experienced the person is, usually isn’t enough. In fact, a rushed opinion is frequently worth much less than you may think based on how authoritative it may sound.
The same goes for advice from other business owners. They may mean well, but their experience is grounded in their own circumstances, not yours. Even if they hand over the exact playbook that worked for them, you could run into roadblocks. Your market might be different, your resources aren’t the same, or your people may not have the skills to carry it out fully.
When my team is brought in, we don’t start with guesses. We look hard at the facts, the history, and the underlying causes before making a recommendation. That’s not a quick process, but it’s the one that leads to solutions that last. Years of experience only matter if there’s a deliberate effort to transfer that knowledge in a way that makes sense for your business.
If you want to build capabilities that stick, skip the shortcuts. Work with people who will take the time to understand your world, build a plan for transferring know‑how, and stick it out with you until the skills are in place. That’s how you solve problems for good — and keep them from coming back.
If you’re striving to build new skills or seeking expertise in your organization right now, consider reaching out for genuine collaboration founded on commitment rather than convenience. I’m always happy to connect, share perspectives, or explore know-how transfer in a way that helps you achieve real progress. Let’s grow together!