Stop Searching for Silver Bullets: Learn How to Tackle What’s Actually Holding You Back
In The Art of Coaching, Bill Belichick tells a story about climbing onto a plane after a tough loss. His coaching staff was already deep in film review and analysis of plays, bad calls, and quarterback adjustments. Belichick looked at them and said:
“You know, fellas, the reason we got beat is because we can’t tackle and we can’t force the run. All the rest of this is a bunch of garbage. This isn’t about a computer, getting into some space world technology. We can’t tackle.”
That story perfectly describes where many technology services and consulting firms are today.
Revenues are flat or declining. Growth feels stuck. And instead of confronting the fundamentals, leadership teams start chasing distractions:
Updating the website to talk more about AI
Hiring a “silver bullet” sales leader who will supposedly fix everything
Expanding service lines without true differentiation
Bringing in ex-executives to open doors
Reorganizing teams to look more specialized
All of it feels like motion, but it’s not progress.
What Needs to Be Tackled
The hard truth is that none of these surface-level changes address the real issues holding most firms back. The fundamentals that need to be tackled first usually look like this:
Account growth has stalled. You’re not expanding within your existing clients. You’re managing relationships instead of building them. Stop Managing Accounts, Start Growing Them explores what it takes to turn account management into a true growth discipline.
You’re selling projects, not partnerships. Small, disconnected engagements keep you stuck in vendor territory. Choosing the Right Custom Software Development Partner shows how clients evaluate strategic partners and what it takes to be one.
Your services sound like everyone else’s. If your value proposition isn’t distinct, you’ll always compete on price. The Maturity Gap Is Killing Technology Services breaks down how to close that gap and create true differentiation.
Leadership maturity is lagging. You may have smart, capable leaders who simply haven’t been coached to drive transformation. Advice from the GOAT: Why Coaching Matters illustrates why developing your bench is essential for sustained growth.
Culture is holding you back. A “great place to work” can sometimes become a comfortable place to underperform. When harmony outweighs accountability, revenue growth suffers.
None of this can be fixed with a new logo, reorg, or AI tagline. It starts with tackling the fundamentals and being willing to call them what they are.
Start With the Fundamentals
Before you “boil the ocean,” take an honest, unbiased look at your core challenges. Be willing to call them what they are and hit them head-on.
When you do, something powerful happens: clarity replaces chaos, accountability returns, and even those who move on to better-suited roles end up grateful for the change.
At ROI, that’s exactly what we help our partners do. We identify, prioritize, and correct what’s keeping them from winning. Because in business, just like football, success comes down to one thing: knowing how and what to tackle.
