17 Buttons on My Desk
This Week's Theme: Good Friends
Fred Smith, Sr.,
Friday, October 13, 2000
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: A cord of three strands is not easily broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12b).
Bonus Reading:Ecclesiastes 4:8-12
I can't over-emphasize the importance of a personal network. I'm talking about a network that isn't based on your profession or your business. A lot of us executives become very surprised when we leave our organization that our relationships don't continue. Therefore it's very important that you have a personal relationship, not based on your profession or your business, that will continue into your senior years.
I've been very happy to be involved closely and personally, even intimately, with some 10 or 15 friends who call each other, send each other clippings, suggest books, tell each other stories and jokes, all with mutual benefit.
One executive I know who didn't have such a network kept involved in his business long after everyone else wished he had retired. He had a large national chain of stores. One evening I was speaking to their national dealer meeting, and was seated next to him at the table. I asked him why he didn't retire.
He candidly said. "At the office I've got 17 buttons on my desk, any one of which I can push and something happens. At home I haven't got a darn one."
If he'd had a network of friends it would have made his transition much easier.
Fred Smith, Sr., business executive Respond:
Whom can you connect with outside of work? Give them a call and get together. Thought to Apply:
The best time to make friends is before you need them.
Ethel Barrymore (actress) 1 of 1
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Jesus, thank you for the blessing of friends. Give me Your love for my brothers.
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