In business terms, it can be simply translated as:
๐๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐ฑ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ง๐๐ฆ๐.
A bad partner is not just someone who makes life difficult.
A bad partner can have a negative influence on your reputation, your risk profile, stress levels, and your future opportunity cost.
Iโve seen people spend months doing their due diligence on a transaction and almost no time examining the character of the person across the table.
That never made sense to me.
Numbers matter.
Terms matter.
Structure matters.
But ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ matter more than most want to admit.
Because itโs possible something will go wrong. Delays, costs overrun, difficult investors, bad quarters, tax audits, sudden market shifts, liquidity issues, so many moving variables.
That is when you find out who you really partnered with.
Not when everyone smiles at the closing table.
Michael Ovitz, one of the most powerful dealmakers in Hollywood history, built much of his career on relationship capital. Not just knowing people, but understanding leverage, trust, access, timing, and reputation.
That lesson applies far beyond the entertainment industry.
In finance and business, your network is not just who you know. It is who people associate you with.
Your ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ง๐๐ญ-๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก and we are talking more than just financial. Your ๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ is also defined by who you associate ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก.
Pirkei Avot is not telling us to be arrogant.
It is telling us to be cautious.
You can be respectful to everyone.
You should not be attached to everyone.
In both time and money, ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ you ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก is just as important as what you ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง.