Here’s a great slogan I just made up: It’s not who you know – it’s who they know.
My best friend and mentor for 50 years was Frank Tate. He got me out of jams and into graduate school. He gave me bucks when I was dead broke. He made me laugh when everyone told me I should be crying. Once, he picked me up from a truck stop in Indiana when I had no idea what state I was in, geographically or emotionally.
Yet, one of Dr. Tate’s greatest gifts was introducing me to three of his friends.
I met Peter at a conference at the University of Chicago. Frank said this brilliant man had helped millions of individuals achieve their goals. I read a book of Peter Drucker’s years later, which is how I learned the best way to predict my future was to create it. This became the hope of my business life.
Years later, Frank introduced me to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks. She needed a ride to the airport, and Frank thought I was the right guy for the job. In three hours on Interstate 80, Ms. Brooks taught me how poetry could bring pleasure and understanding to my fragile life.
In South Lake Tahoe, Frank set me up to spend a delightful evening with psychologist Carl Rogers and his wife, Helen. For the rest of my professional career, I attempted to follow his teachings about client-centered therapy, understanding and how all real change is self-change.
Thanks, Frank. You hung out with a pretty cool cast of characters.