Most children have played a game of Broken Telephone.

One person whispers a message to another.

The message moves around the room, passed quietly from one person to the next.

No one is trying to change it.

Yet by the time it reaches the end, it often bears little resemblance to the original message.

A word was misheard.

A detail was forgotten.

An assumption filled the gap.

Each person repeated what they believed they had received.

But with every retelling, the message moved further from its source.

Information can change as it travels.

It can also travel further than intended.

A private detail becomes a conversation.

A conversation becomes a story.

And a story may eventually reach someone who was never meant to hear it.

The more people who receive information, the less control remains over where it goes, how it is understood, and what it becomes.

In investing, information is often deeply personal.

It may concern wealth, family, business, intentions, difficulties, or opportunity.

Being entrusted with information does not transfer ownership of it.

Its importance does not grant permission to repeat it.

And protecting it requires more than remembering the words correctly.

It requires judgment.

Discretion is knowing what must be repeated accurately, and what must not be repeated at all.

‍

‍

‍

‍