I’m not much of a history buff, and remembering important historical events or even important people in history has never been a strong suit for me. But when submitting an official date for the founding of my first company, I did want to choose a date that may have some historical significance. The first options were of immediate relevance in our lives that happen around this year - the birthday of my deceased father-in-law (we miss you Jiji!!), the birthday of my mother-in-law, Halloween, my dog’s birthday. But all of these fell afoul of the calendar here in Japan that shows on a daily basis if days are good are bad luck (called rokuyo), and while I’m not superstitious, my wife has intuitions with such matters, and I’ve learned over the years to pay attention to those.
My search for dates in October or November that might have significance didn’t come up with much at first glance, although there was one that caught my eye and that I came back for after looking at any other options I could find. That was the birth of Daniel Boone on November 2, 1734. As an American, this is a name that I am of course familiar with as one of the explorers in our country’s early history. I was a bit apprehensive about this, as the real history of many of our explorers can be rife with deeds that are not sources of pride or that I would want to associate with my new venture. But after spending a bit of time on Wikipedia and seeing that in fact he was not the ‘Indian’ killing pioneer many legends and lore made him out to be, and that he was actually a man of few words that sought to live a simple life, I was happy to share his birth date with the founding date of Adventure Partner. As two additional bonuses, I have a best friend whose nickname is Boon (one of the greatest adventurers I know, and he will surely come up in future blog posts), and as luck would have it, November 2 this year is sensho in the rokuyo system. While not the luckiest of all the different types of days, is pretty good, especially for starting new ventures!
So it is in this spirit of adventure and exploration that Adventure Partner begins. While close to 300 years have passed since Mr. Boone’s birth, and it may seem that the time for pioneers exploring new territories is over (at least on this planet), It is clear to me that endless adventures lie ahead. The trying times of confusion, uncertainty, and seemingly inevitable doom that have dominated this year are evidence that the journey we are all on will keep us on our toes in ways most of us had never anticipated. It is my hope that I can maintain a sense of exploration, wonder, and appreciation for the richness and depth of experiences life has to offer, and that I can do that in partnership with others - individuals, teams, organizations and even communities.