The week before last I had the opportunity to travel to Pueblo, in southern Colorado, to offer a workshop for about 100 nonprofit leaders, and later a keynote address at the local Nonprofit Day, for about 450 community leaders.

Pueblo was once the steel capital of the west but, as that industry moved out, a long period of decline set in. Nowadays, Pueblo is making a comeback. Right downtown is a beautiful performing arts center and children’s museum complex any town could be proud of; and it certainly did not hurt my enjoyment that the March weather was in the 70s, while it was cold and rainy back home.

Pueblo’s most famous philanthropist has to be David Packard, who was born there before moving to California to co-found that famous company in his garage. Having visited the town of his birth, I now have a better appreciation for Mr. Packard’s no-nonsense, down-to-earth, no-airs, approach to philanthropy. The town is blessed with plenty of people quietly working together to make a better life for all.

You may have heard the consultant’s expression: “You can have it good, cheap, and fast—choose any two.”

If not, it is an instructive little saying to remember. For example:

Good and Cheap, but not fast—We can do good quality work and keep the price down, if in return you are flexible as to when we deliver the product. This flexibility allows the consultant to build in work on other more urgent projects as needed.

Good and Fast, but not cheap—We can do good quality work, and fast, but it is going to cost you a premium because meeting your urgency means we have to say “no,” or “not now” to someone else’s project.

Cheap and Fast, but not good—A consultant can do the work quickly, and not charge very much, and this may be quite attractive to a client with urgent needs and limited resources. But beware: The work you get may not be of very high quality, so that the time and money you do spend may be largely wasted.