5 Friends: Blue chips or junk stock?

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"I can find out everything I need to know about you by getting to know you’re 5 closes friends.” My father passed when I was 18, but that single quote is his most indelible legacy. And good for me, that advice is as valuable today as it was then.

When we were kids it was simple. Back then it started on the sandlot. Important decisions came in late summer when we needed to decide if we would play baseball or transition to football, but the pack of kids was essentially the same. And whatever we decided, we would stick to it and play with vigor.

As an adult, it’s not so easy. My team of five don’t know each other. Sure some of them have met, even shared a meal here and there, but they are not in contact outside of me bringing them together. And I don’t know about you, but my 5 have had some changes throughout the years. Not major. Three of them are my bedrock. They have stood with me through thick and thin and we have been close for years. As for the other two, the “newbies”, we are still in our first decade, but going strong. I am very fortunate.

But why is this “Team” of 5 important?

My team brings me up. True champions excel only by being challenged by other champions, and to a person, each one of my team of 5 hold me in a higher esteem then I feel like I deserve sometimes, they speak the truth (even when it’s not easy), they challenge me and they give me room to find my inner champion. I’d like to believe I do the same for them.

And as I get older, it is this team of 5 that make it easier to take stock. Am I making the kind of difference in the world that I hoped to? Am I learning from my mistakes? When the day comes and I am eulogized, what words will this group of knuckle heads, my team of 5, have to say about me? I’m in no hurry to find out. Thankfully (hopefully?), there is still time to influence what that message might be, so I’ve got to get to it.

To my Team of 5 – Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

(Originally shared on LinkedIn 1/30/17)