It’s now been about four years since the Dow began its precipitous decline, and about three since the invention of the expression “too big to fail” entered our lexicon. Two years ago, the U.S. Treasury became a majority stockholder in another entity deemed too big to fail. Today, the expression seems apropos once more as debate rages over the U.S. debt ceiling. Not being particularly savvy of these financial maneuvers and not wishing to join the politics, I’ll simply note that the tactical solution, although perhaps unavoidable, always seems to involve throwing money at the problem.

Happily, this is not a solution that most small- and medium-sized businesses are able to exercise. They are therefore more inclined to look for solutions that don’t involve spending. An owner of a small manufacturer complained to me recently, “We just don’t have all the resources that big guys have.” I replied, “You don’t know how lucky you are!” The solutions to what ails most organizations today cannot be bought with cash but require a personal investment of time to learn and practice.

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