I spend a lot of my time canoe camping in the Northern Ontario wilderness. And after 30 years of paddling, I’ve found that the best way to make sure you have a good time is to pack the very best tools.

If I want to make hot water, I use my JetBoil.

If I want to sit by the fire, I break out my lightweight Trekology chair.

And a few years ago, I carved my own voyageur-style poplar-wood paddle – to fit my large wingspan.

One thing I don’t bring is a Swiss Army knife. Not to get all Ron Swanson or anything, but give me my four-inch folding camping knife any day. It has saved – and sliced – my bacon a few times.

A skilled outdoorsperson knows that the right tool, in the right hands, makes all the difference.

Which brings us to communications.

A lot of companies want to position themselves as “full service” agencies these days. But at best, they’re a Swiss-Army knife: they might have one or two people who can do video, or graphic design, but they don’t have full-fledged studios at their disposal. They’re a tiny pair of scissors when you need shears. They’re a corkscrew when you need a saw.

At LRC, we know this.

We can write great op eds, but we don’t like to do traditional PR.

We can create a great video script, but you’ll need a videographer to bring it to life.

And we can write a speech that will bring down the house, but you might need some extra help with the delivery.

And if a client needs more than that — if they need skills we don’t have — we reach into our backpack.

If we need strategic government relations advice, we bring in our partner, Counsel Public Affairs.

If a client wants vocal coaching, that’s a job for Corporate Speech Consultants.

And we have informal partnerships with companies who do PR, Graphic Design, Branding, and Videography. And we bring them into our work because — and more companies should probably acknowledge this — you don’t actually need to be good at everything.

You need to know who is best in the business at a certain skill — like artwork — and work with them.

With a good project manager at the helm — someone like LRC’s Tracey Sobers, for example — smaller firms with an expert focus can build a dream-team of talented boutique and specialist companies around a project who, together, can deliver the kind of top-tier service you think you can only find in the big, expensive, multinational agencies.

At LRC, this approach lets us get big, fast. We’re able to pull together talented people — some of whom we’ve known and worked beside for decades — to tackle any job, any time, in any market. And we do it seamlessly, too.

It’s all about being the best at what you do — and knowing others who also do great work. It’s about building the team you need to get the results your customers deserve.

That’s what full-service looks like, for LRC.