Welcome back to the Sunstone Way.
How are your Thanksgiving plans going? The big day is only a week away.
At the Keisler household, the turkey has moved from the freezer to the refrigerator, and I’ve located my DVD of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” our annual Thanksgiving Day movie. We’re still working on the dinner guest list, but we know our two sons, Ben and Chris, will be at the table.
Laura and I are thankful for that.
Make It Happen
Have you ever seen “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”? It is another of my favorites this time of year.
It’s all about how Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock and the gang come together to create an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner. The Peanuts characters know they are a family, a community, and pull with each other to make something good happen.
It is required viewing at Sunstone headquarters this year!
Big Family
Giving thanks should happen more often, but at least we have this one day to really focus on the process. Many families start Thanksgiving dinner by having everybody say one thing they are thankful for this day, week or year.
For many, the simple fact there is food on the table is a reason to be thankful. For more, having family is a big reason to give thanks – I know it is for me.
Then there’s the larger family of our community – the many different communities we belong to. Here at Sunstone, we are family.
Mike Stone, Jasmine Jiang, Michelle Cahill, Jayro Sandoval, and Jennifer Huang all watch over their charges and take pride in them as they grow. Jessica dela Rosa hovers over all like the abuela she will some day become. Heather Lewis is that oldest sibling who makes sure everything is done correctly.
John Shen is the patriarch; Stella Zhang is the matriarch. I fit in there somewhere too.
We party together, and we work together. We are stronger together than apart.
Bottom line, we all care for each other and help each other succeed. That’s family. That’s community.
Bigger Families
The community of innovation and entrepreneurship has strong family characteristics. Founders get help from the more experienced members of the family. We come together to cheer each other on, provide support and enjoy each other’s company.
It’s called the business community for a reason. Of course there is competition – that’s true of most families. But when the chips are down, the business community comes together for the greater good.
Closer to home, literally, are our neighborhoods. That is most apparent when disaster strikes – the wildfires last January, for example. Members of communities worry more about the fellow members of the family than themselves, and drop everything to help.
For more than 20 years, I was a member of the family we called the city of Long Beach. I mean the more than 6,000 people who worked for the city, doing all the things that allow the city as a whole – a family of some 450,000 residents – to work as best it could for the greater good.
From the Beginning
Legend has it that the Pilgrims and the Indigenous Natives around Plymouth Rock came together to share a meal in friendship on that first Thanksgiving Day. There’s plenty of doubt about the veracity of that story, and we must admit the real history of those relationships is full of pain.
But even if the story isn’t true, it illustrates the need and desire for community. Those very early pilgrims could feel that they weren’t going to survive without relying on each other and their neighbors.
Community, family, are basic needs for us humans. I know very few people who do well on their own – I’m certainly not one. I’m exceedingly grateful for my family, my fellow workers, and my larger communities.
Welcome In
I’m thankful for you, too. Whether you know it or not, you are part of my community, a member of the Sunstone family.
We couldn’t do what we do without your interest and support. And that’s the definition of family, isn’t it? It also happens to be part of The Sunstone Way.
Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for joining us. And remember to always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone Management, Inc.
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©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2025