My buddy Bob called me today and described a project he’s working on. He’s having a hard time acquiring a key piece of it—he’s been searching, but he keeps coming up short. As he talked, I thought of another friend, Sarah, who deals with these kinds of items all the time. I got a picture of the item and sent it over to Sarah. She immediately responded with a product Bob might like and a source where he could view other similar products.

Bob didn’t have knowledge or experience in this area. He expended a ton of effort over countless hours trying to fill that gap. This slowed his execution of his project. Sarah, on the other hand, has the relevant knowledge and experience. She was able to point Bob in the right direction with minimal effort, which will hopefully get his project back on track.

This simple story was a reminder: knowledge gaps can impede execution. If not knowing something is slowing me down, I should find someone who can fill my gap so I can keep executing. Kudos to my buddy for reaching out. I couldn’t fill his gap, but I’m glad I knew someone who could.