The Plates Keep Spinning
From the Desk of the CEO
Yesterday we gathered for a “Celebration of Life” for Fred Eguchi. In our part of SoCal, Fred was the unofficial “Mayor of Redondo.” Everyone knew him. Everyone loved him. He served on our board, but more than that, he was a dear friend—the kind of man you couldn’t help but brag about knowing. I only wish everyone could have known him. And if you didn’t, I hope you have a “Fred” in your own life.
Now, it’s over. Finished. Done. Weeks of anticipation and preparation filed under “completed.” The service was everything it should have been—heartfelt stories, familiar laughter, and sorrow you could almost touch. It was beautiful. And yet, as more than 1,400 people filed out of the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, one question lingered: what comes next?
The temptation is to treat an ending like a wall. Project wrapped. Event closed. Leader departed. But endings aren’t walls; they’re revolving doors. Step through, and you’re already in another room. The real question isn’t what ended but what still wants to keep going.
Like Erich Brenn on the Ed Sullivan Show, Fred kept the plates spinning. Only his plates were people—friends, colleagues, strangers who quickly became both. Each connection needed a nudge, a moment of attention, a steady hand to keep it moving. Left alone, the plates would wobble and fall. But Fred’s gift was knowing when to step in, when to steady, and when to simply let the motion carry forward. The real spectacle wasn’t the act itself, but the joy it created for everyone living inside it.
Momentum doesn’t survive on nostalgia. It survives by design. Fred spun the stories and made the connections for one reason: to make life better for everyone around him. His absence is real and deeply felt. But the plates don’t crash because he left. They crash when we let them.
So, let’s keep them spinning. Check in. Help out. Connect—at home, at work, with family, friends, even strangers. Resist the tidy story of finality. See continuity where others see closure. Lead not in the grand, messianic sense, but in the small, daily choice to keep plates upright.
We owe it to Fred. We owe it to ourselves. And if we keep the plates spinning, we may discover they were never his alone—they were always ours to carry forward.
—
Michael Dean
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