It's All About the Friendships!

I’d love to have a blurb from Bill Clinton. Lee Child does. “I love Jack Reacher.”—Bill Clinton. I’m a Child-Reacher fan. Was reading The Enemy on the way home from Costa Rica. Came across this:

“Nearly a million men in the army, hundreds of billions of dollars, and it all came down to who liked who. Hey, what can you do?

What can you do?

Nothing!

(It’s the way things are.)

Everything!

(You can acknowledge reality—and attempt to make it your ally.)

In the case under consideration, there’s a terrible conspiracy afoot. But forget that. The bigger fact is that while skill, etc., counts, in the end it is (more or less) all about the friendships.

(Not quite as awful—to some—as it sounds. At any given level, say, the skills are probably pretty equal, so the question is, What’s the differentiator?)

All this is a dull and boring reminder that regardless of stakes or subject matter it’s the collecting of allies and the maintenance and nurturing of supporters that determines whether or not things you care about get done.

So:

Check your lunch schedule this week, check your calendar. Think R.O.I.R.—Return On Investment in Relationships. What’s your “investment plan” for the week?

Tom Peters posted this on March 23, 2010, in Strategies.
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