"Our firm's growth was twenty percent last year, and I'm still frustrated," he said. He was a new client, running a $30 Million a year fee-based professional services firm in San Francisco. His frustration wasn't based on a monetary or a revenue issue. It was a performance issue. To his competitors, at least those who were still in business at the end of 2003, his growth was enviable. But he knew his staff wasn't performing at their peak levels. In fact, they were underperforming. "How can I…

Two years ago I was watching a documentary on PBS about monkeys who lived by a river. When they showed how a monkey went about foraging for his food, I felt as if I was watching a big billing recruiter work his magic.

The monkey was looking for insects underneath river rocks. He would pick up a rock, look at it, and put it back if there was no insect. Then another rock. And another. After about a dozen rocks without a juicy insect underneath, he finally found one. He quickly picked at…