The book Going for the Green by Robert Thompson, Key Porter Books, Toronto, 2008 is a wonderful book about golfing and the relationships people build. In some professions it seems, golfing is the sport of choice. This means if you are in them, you might want to learn in order to move up in the organization. It is August and that means there are many charity golf tournaments being played every week, unless you have unlimited time and money, you may want to either pick the cause or the people you are expecting to play with. The premise of the book is for when 2 to 4 people go golfing, not only do they golf but they spend time together to either build relationships or learn something from each other. If you could spend 4 hours or so with a senior level person of an organization who would it be? what would you want to learn about them and yourself? how does every handle mistakes when the golf ball goes right or left? do you feel extra pressure on the putt?

For non golf fans, intertwined in the book are the best golf places or some of the most exclusive places to play and who are the designers. What does it take to run a successful golf course? What does the golfing business look like? In the book the focus  is on Canadian golf courses, but many of the golfers golf at the best gold courses around the world.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when you buy a stock and expect to hold it for a considerable amount of time, you are entering into a relationship with that company for soon you will be noticing it as you make your travels through your life. For example, you may notice if the company gave money to your local hospital or what charities does the company support? it is great if you also support them, then you get two for one. When the company is in the news as an owner you have a different opinion of them than if you did not own shares. Within this relationship, you have determined the senior management of the company, besides paying you a dividend and keeping the company profitable, you can do business with.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions