Resourceful

"Resourceful" is one of my favorite words.  It implies creative solution-crafting, usually with unconventional or repurposed materials.  Almost always, being resourceful also suggests that we are managing to accomplish our objective with minimal additional outlay.  It's sort of like being a problem-solving conservationist.

One of my friends who is a former U.S. Marine tells me they have a mantra in the Corps that goes something like this:  "I've done so much for so long with so little, I can now do anything forever with nothing."  Sort of speaks to the essence of resourcefulness, huh? 

Some antonyms of resourceful are incompetent, unimaginative, stupid, inept, and unadventurous.  But, another word comes to my mind when I think about the opposite of resourceful:  consumptive.

I've watched and worked for leaders who were/are resourceful.  They managed to leverage every available resource without being wasteful, they garnered every ounce of quality thinking among the team, they sought feedback and counsel from every corner of the organization, and they begged/borrowed/stole tangible assets in the interest of frugality.  In that spirit of resourcefulness, they were always moving the team and the projects toward the goals.

I've also watched the non-resourceful types.  They were more apt to burn through money, people, energy, and time with the same sort of consuming effect as a nuclear detonation.  Similar scorched-earth results usually followed. 

Resourcefulness for me, please.