I’m think­ing today about the ben­e­fits of hav­ing cronies. Not in the pejo­ra­tive sense of the word “crony­ism” but in the sim­ple business-oriented sense of the term. Look­ing back over my career, I can spot a num­ber of invalu­able con­tri­bu­tions from var­i­ous friends and busi­ness acquain­tances shared over a beer.

The value one can get from dis­cussing busi­ness prob­lems and ideas in an infor­mal con­text with a few trusted col­leagues can’t be over­stated. This doesn’t have to be a meet-with-your-guru kind of thing, though some­times it is done with a coach or con­sul­tant. But if you have or can find a few busi­ness own­ers or pro­fes­sion­als like your­self to meet as peers and toss around ideas or pick away at chal­leng­ing prob­lems, it can be enough to keep you in the game when you seem to his a wall — and it can do the same for them as well.