14. Eight Minutes Apart

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

What begins as a professional relationship gradually becomes something more unusual.

Two colleagues from different organisations discover a remarkable series of coincidences. Similar careers. Similar interests. Similar values. The same sporting challenges. Even the same Ironman race, completed in the same year, just eight minutes apart.

This essay explores how trust is built between people, and why the strongest working relationships often emerge when shared experiences reveal shared standards. Professional partnerships rarely succeed because people know one another well. They succeed because, over time, they discover they see the world in much the same way.

Sometimes the shortest distance between trust and collaboration is a journey that began years before either person realised it.