Key Principle
Brenneman distills the practice of investing in others — drawn from Dr. Walt James, Jimmy Lee, Bentsen, Bush 41, Lyle Yost, and Friesen — into four takeaways from long-term influencers:
- Know your platform — the unique place from which only you can give
- Invest over a long period of time — decades, not events
- Know the enemies and prepare for them — infidelity, depression, addiction (the three curveballs)
- Have fun — laugh with others and at yourself
The highest available return on a life is Reflected Glory — joy that returns to the leader from helping others succeed. The diagnostic that tells you whether you are investing for it: David Brooks's distinction between Résumé Virtues (achievements, the outside) and Eulogy Virtues (character, the legacy). If the résumé list is longer than the eulogy list right now, the portfolio is mis-weighted.
Why This Matters
Why "platform" comes first. Without specificity, generic kindness dissipates. Mother Teresa told the visiting minister who admired her work: "Son, you are terrible at this ministry. God called me to this ministry, to the orphans in Calcutta. Son, you need to go and find your own Calcutta." Admiration of another's calling is not a calling. The diagnostic question — "What do I really care about? And how can I best invest in the lives of my family and friends?" — is the Step 1 strategic question applied to the personal portfolio. Identifying your platform also dissolves the false split between marketplace life Monday–Friday and "another life Sunday" into integration (the personal analogue of work/life integration from Step 1 life).
Why "invest over time." Influence compounds through duration. Short-term mentorship produces no legacy because the recipient cannot tell whether the investor will still be present next year. Britt Harris's Titans of Investing at Texas A&M is the operational model — decades of consistent investment in a defined group produces compounding returns no single intervention can match.
The Caleb archetype. Joshua 14, age 40 to 85. Caleb's most decisive move — dissenting against the ten fearful spies in Numbers 13 — failed in the short term (Israel refused to cross). The posture defined a 45-year legacy anyway. Short-term failure does not invalidate the stance. The framework absorbs the disappointment cost: Brenneman wonders whether Caleb felt slighted at being passed over for Joshua, and notes the model requires absorbing that without disengaging.
Good Examples
Britt Harris's Titans of Investing at UT/Texas A&M. The operational model: ~20 slots from hundreds of applicants, gate held by alumni; each student writes a 10-page report on a recently published book (~40 books/year of digested material) which circulates to Harris's national network; Harris tracks every alumnus's location and employer and leverages contacts at consulting firms, banks, and PE firms to "relentlessly promote his Titans." Result: hundreds of alumni under 32 in top roles. The system is self-perpetuating because each cohort owes the next.
Mother Teresa's "find your own Calcutta." The platform-specificity parable. A visiting minister wanted to join her work; she sent him back to find his own. The platform is whatever you uniquely have to give — marketplace, home, classroom — and operating on someone else's never works.
Brenneman's concrete rituals. Handwritten Christmas books mailed to 600 board members and CEOs annually; annual CEO dinners; an accountability community small group that holds each other to identify damaged relationships and pursue reconciliation. Dr. Walt James "never missed a single speech" Brenneman gave in Kansas for 30 years after retiring — and did this for all his former students. Jimmy Lee cared for clients across 40+ years.
Counterpoints
The "résumé virtues" trap. Career achievements stack up — travel, cars, homes, titles — while the eulogy is hollow. "You can't live on pride and accomplishments alone. Accomplishments are just a veneer, what people see on the outside." Alfred Nobel's case operationalizes the urgency: his reputation-repair came after a French paper mistakenly published his obituary as "The merchant of death is dead" — real repair, but too late to benefit him. Don't wait for an obituary-level shock.
One-shot mentorship. Single events; no compounding. The recipient cannot tell whether the investor will still be present next year, so the relationship never enters the regime where trust does load-bearing work. Faithful Presence = Platform × Time; without the time dimension, the product is zero.
The three curveball enemies — infidelity, depression, addiction. These derail every long-horizon investment regardless of rank ("strong, confident, talented men and women"). Recovery is asymmetric to prevention: ~7-11 years for a marriage to heal from infidelity; depression hides "behind the windshield of the Lexus and under the Armani suit." A leader unprepared for these is functionally negligent. See Step 4 Life — Build Your Life Team (Align and Prune) for the three-rules guardrail set.
The Holy / Just / Compassionate Acid Test (decision filter)
When personal failure surfaces in someone you lead — family, friend, or business associate — filter every response through three questions:
- Holy — is this the right thing for the right reasons?
- Just — does the punishment fit the crime?
- Compassionate — is it administered with love?
Why it matters: leaders must "mete out justice" routinely, and in a marketplace where "nearly all our games are away games," they need a reliable filter that prevents either harshness or capitulation. Without it, leaders default to whichever pole their temperament favors.
Key Quotes
"Son, you are terrible at this ministry. God called me to this ministry, to the orphans in Calcutta. Son, you need to go and find your own Calcutta." (Mother Teresa parable, Step 5 Life)
"If you look at anyone who has had an outsize impact, who has left a legacy of eulogy virtues, almost always the individual has done it over an extended period of time. These leaders know their platforms and have consistently leveraged them." (Step 5 Life)
"At this very moment, which is the longer list for you? Have your legacy virtues gotten trumped by your résumé virtues?" (Brenneman deploying David Brooks's distinction as a diagnostic)
"Reflected glory really is the best kind. So invest in it." (closing Step 5 Life)
"Choose to be a Caleb." (closing Step 5 Life)
"Holy. Just. Compassionate. That's my acid test for when the tough times hit, whether with family, with friends, or with business associates." (Step 5 Life)
Rules of Thumb
- Audit the two lists now, not at retirement. Write the résumé column and the eulogy column. If résumé is longer, reallocate platform time this quarter — not someday.
- Pick the platform that's already yours. Family, work, the specific community where you already have standing — operating on someone else's calling fails. Find your own Calcutta before you build the program.
- Commit in decades, not years. Pick people; show up across decades without announcement. Presence proves the commitment is unconditional in a way speeches cannot.
- Build a forcing-function ritual. Annual handwritten note, recurring dinner, alumni tracking spreadsheet — anything that converts "I should" into a scheduled obligation that compounds.
- Treat damaged relationships as uninvested capital. Romans 12:18 — "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Have someone hold you accountable to identify disconnections and restore them, even if only at a cordial level.
- Ask "What good can come from this?" — never "Why me?" The pivot question converts private suffering into outward orientation; despair locks attention inward; the alternative redirects it toward others.
- Don't retire from the hard work. Caleb claimed the hardest territory at 85, then set up the next leader via reward-for-hard-objective. Set the diagnostic: "What will you do from age forty to eighty-five?"
Related References
- Step 5 Business — Let the Inmates Run the Asylum — Step 5 business partner; same empowerment logic, different timeframe
- Step 4 Life — Build Your Life Team (Align and Prune) — Step 4 life prerequisite; three rules to avoid the curveballs
- The Five Steps and the Right Away / All At Once Discipline — résumé/eulogy framing origin and the five-step methodology