The people who will mean the most to you are the ones who stuck with you, or who you stuck with, in challenging and difficult Periods. Those who worked together to get through something real. The people who have only stuck around during good times mean far less. Sure some of them might hang around in the next trial. But if they've only known good times with you then either (a) the tenure of the relationship is lacking or (b) you’ve been on top for a while now.
This all occurred to me after reading a post from the capital allocator Graham Duncan, who was in turn quoting the great Charles T. Munger.
On the other side, think about people you’ve ditched during their trials. I bet there are some regrets; some you wish you’d had the maturity and foresight to be there for. Then there are others where exiting the scene turned out to be wise. Or maybe people have ditched you. Where they right or wrong to do so?
One can get a sense of who is worth befriending by who they’ve already befriended. Do they primarily or only associate with hotshots? Do they drop decent persons at the first sign of trouble? Or do they spend time with “nobodies”? Success brings with it all manner of insincere attention. The good ones assess people not based on how good their resume looks or how many high-up friends they have, but on the substance of their curiosity, humility, and character.
It is a matter of principle.
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