A client asked me to weigh in on a vendor relationship everyone assumed was locked in for years. I pulled the master agreement instead of trusting the recap sitting in someone's inbox, and found a short notice convenience exit clause nobody on the team knew existed. That single clause changed the entire negotiating posture, from we're stuck, let's make the best of it, to we have leverage, let's use it.
Takeaway
Contracts get treated as legal's job, read once at signing and then filed away. I treat them as a live strategic asset. Every renewal, every vendor tension, every "can we get out of this" conversation starts with me reading the actual document again, not the institutional memory of what it says. Institutional memory needs reminders.