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This is the subtitle of a research report delivered on February 24 at a workshop in Tyson’s Corner, VA that documents the reasons behind how high growth professional service firms do better in both top line and bottom line results than their average growth competitors.

One of the impacts of the current economic situation is thatconditions are making people believe that when we really emerge from what is going on, things will be much different than they were. More and more we hear business owners talk about the need to change the culture of their company.

In listening to business owners list strategies they have deployed to help change the culture of their companies, particularly after a merger with another firm, three themes emerge:

The World Wide Web is one of the most significant developments in the last century. The statistics on its growth and use are mind-boggling. Can you imagine life without it? No one blog, article, book or magazine could document its impact so this one will just focus on what the Internet is doing to the world of gatekeepers.

Often recently, business owners have brought up the issue of what to do when a good employee changes into being not so good. Many times, these are long-serving people who have helped the company get to this point in time.

Wise business owners don’t want to act harshly and precipitously, even in a down economy when there are good people out there looking for jobs. An outsider does not know the company like a veteran. So before you cast aside a former high performer, listen to some advice from others who have faced this situation.

In a recent meeting, Joe Twist, CEO of The Collaborative Group, a Baltimore-based market research and business intelligence firm focused on the pharmaceutical industry, uttered a phrase that hit all those present profoundly: “success comes to those people who place themselves in the path of positive surprises.”

Many marketing gurus advise companies to look to their existing customers and former customers for increases in sales and revenue. They quote statistics about how much more expensive it is to get new customers than to increase the business with existing ones. As a practical matter we have to do both.

One of the biggest mistakes in marketing, in fact, in all communications is to assume that just because you sent a message that it was received and understood. How many times has someone asked you about something, you reply that you were unaware of it and they become frustrated and say something like, “I sent you the e-mail last Friday!” or, how many times has the reverse happened to you? Experts in communications say you have to view the process as a circle, not as a straight line.

There is no end to the news about falling tax revenues at every level of government. Politicians are scrambling to balance budgets and make up for income shortfalls. Besides adding new taxes, governments are looking for ways to increase revenue from existing tax structures. For years, the IRS has policed the practice of hiring contract workers instead of employees. There are obvious flexibility and tax advantages in structuring a company or a part of a company this way. The IRS has used a 20 question test to assess whether a worker is truly an employee or a legitimate outside contractor.

These are certainly not the most encouraging times to live in. We get constant daily reminders of bad economic conditions, war and terrorism, lower stock and real estate values, etc. The race goes to the people who understand the value of and the need for persistence. Someone famous once said that 90% of success is just showing up. So hats off to all of you out there who refuse to give in to despair, that believe in what you are doing and are keeping at it.