Borrow from another industry

At the ribbon cutting for Alleviant Integrated Mental Health, what impressed me most was the philosophy behind the technology.

Many care models end up built around long-term dependency. Their focus runs the other way: help people heal, restore function and move forward, because so many more people still need care. They aren’t reinventing every tool. They’re rethinking how proven tools are paired and applied, using objective data like EEG as a “visual vital sign” alongside targeted therapies to build a more precise path to results.

Good business advice tends to work the same way. The breakthrough rarely comes from a brand-new idea. It comes from taking a proven practice and applying it in a combination you hadn’t considered.

This is one of my favorite things about a council with no competitors at the table. A home-services company, a professional firm and a distributor all run into the same problems: hiring, pricing, cash, follow-up. They solve them differently. The idea you need is often already working in somebody else’s industry.

It’s also how I think about advisory work in general. It should make leaders more capable over time, so they need less help as they go, and so the room gets stronger as each member does.