Doing a deal with a big company is extremely complex. That complexity leads to lots of jobs. There are multiple boxes within the big company that need to be checked to get a deal done. And each of those boxes has an owner. There can be hundreds of boxes and dozens of owners.

Your inclination, of course, is to speed up the deal by simplifying the deal process by minimizing or eliminating the need to check some of these boxes. While this is the right approach, and it must be done, it’s critical to remember that each of those “box owners” likely believes that their box is extremely important. And that checking their box is a critical part of the company’s business process. And they’re also likely to become extremely threatened when their box is minimized or eliminated.

It’s important to be aware of this reality when attempting to speed up a deal. Be respectful of every owner in the process, and coginizant of the consequences that come from speeding things up.