Take someone to dinner...

Many of you who know me have heard me talk about Pop!Tech. Ever since learning about this conference from my friend Buzz, and meeting another friend, Tom, I've been a huge fan.

I won't go into all the details of this story, there's a point I want to make at the end of this post...but, to set it up here we go:

Buzz introduced me via e-mail to Tom. Tom's parents live a half mile from my house in Ojai. Tom came to visit them, so we met for breakfast, went for a hike, and visited the farmer's market. (Here we are out in front...)

Not even a year went by that we knew each other (I did visit him once in Camden, where he and his family opened their hearts and their home to me for a night) before the unthinkable happened. We lost a friend, a mentor, a father and an all around great guy...

So, while I was at dinner in Zurich last Wednesday, I decided to write some notes and have a glass of wine with my friend and mentor, Tom LeVine. (You can see him there in the picture...)

What I realized is that our circles of influence can extend out beyond the "here-and-now-and-me." In fact, I put friends out on the outer circle NOT because they are the furthest away...no, I put them out there because for ME they are incredibly significant.

When I "lump them all together," my friends, acquaintances, mentors, neighbors, and other associates all create a pretty big pool of influence.

A lot more landed in my journal as the night went on, and I owe a lot of it to the inspiration of having dinner that night with my old friend, Tom.