Start a 20-Year Relationship This Year

Over on LinkedIn this month, I’ve been sharing my personal goals for 2026: learning the art of delegation, and practicing being more deliberately human.

But this article isn’t about me.

This is my goal for you.

My resolution for anyone reading who’s looking for something worth starting this year.

January does this funny thing to us.

It makes us believe we can begin again.

A new year.

A new job.

A new company.

A new role.

A new chapter in our family.

A new skill we’ve been meaning to learn.

There’s something deeply human about that reset. Even when life is complicated, January whispers: you can start something.

So here’s a goal I want to offer you this year, one that won’t show up on a KPI dashboard, but will quietly shape the rest of your career:

Start a 20-year professional relationship in 2026.

Not a contact.

Not a connection.

Not someone who might be “useful someday.”

A relationship you’re willing to play the long game with.

I’m not talking about intensity or speed.

I’m talking about intentionality.

Someone you choose to invest in before you know exactly how it will pay off. Someone you learn alongside. Someone who sees you evolve through different seasons of work and life.

The kind of person who, twenty years from now, when the titles have changed and the tools are unrecognizable, you’ll still trust.

In 2046, I want you to be able to say:

“That person I met in 2026 became one of the most important professional relationships of my life.”

Not because they helped you land a deal.

Not because they opened a door once.

But because they walked with you through decades of decisions.

We’ve been trained to optimize for immediacy.

Who can help me right now?

Who has the biggest platform today?

Who can introduce me to the fastest opportunity?

That mindset works. Briefly.

But careers don’t compound through moments.

They compound through continuity.

The most meaningful professional relationships I’ve observed weren’t efficient. They were patient. They survived role changes, geographic moves, personal challenges, and reinvention.

They weren’t always productive in the short term.

They were invaluable in the long term.

We’re entering an era where:

- Expertise expires faster

- Tools change constantly

- Roles are increasingly fractional, fluid, and undefined

In that environment, trust becomes the only stable asset.

When the playbook changes, you don’t need more information. You need people who know how you think, how you decide, and what you value under pressure.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

It happens by choosing depth early.

This isn’t about finding the person.

It’s about choosing a person.

This year:

- Notice who you feel grounded around

- Pay attention to who asks better questions than they answer

- Look for someone whose integrity shows up in small moments

Then do something radical in a world obsessed with scale:

Go slow.

Stay in touch.

Be generous without keeping score.

Let the relationship grow without forcing an outcome.

We don’t talk enough about how much agency we still have.

You don’t need a massive network.

You don’t need a viral post.

You don’t need to optimize every interaction.

You just need to choose to build one relationship this year as if it might matter for the next twenty.

Because someday, when you look back at your career, it won’t be the projects or the platforms you miss most.

It will be the people who stayed.

So if you’re starting something new this January, a role, a company, a season of learning, consider starting this too:

A relationship meant to last.

And if you’re looking for that person but don’t know where to start, reach out. I spend my days connecting leaders who want to build these kinds of relationships. I might know someone worth meeting.