This past week I experienced a little bit of confusion, as an old firend I had not seen in over a year wasn;t sure whether us vaccinated people could hug, shake hands, high five or just stick with the fist bump. We went the hug and handshake route. I was again reminded of the amount of hugs, personally, and professionally missed when I placed the order for Scott O’Neil’s new book. “Be Where Your Feet Are,” today. O’Neil, leading HSBE with a landmark career that began at Villanova, is one of the marquee business huggers on the planet, and I hadn’t seen one from Scott with anyone since the MIT Sloan Conference a year ago March. I was alos remoinded of the value of the handshake with my colleague Will Leitch’s oiece this past week, also worth a read.
But back to high five’s. There are many origin stories of the high five, but the two most documented candidates are Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball team on October 2, 1977, and Wiley Brown and Derek Smith of the Louisville Cardinals men’s college basketball team during the 1978–1979 season.
The idea for making the third Thursday of April, this year its April 18, a celebration began in 2002 at the University of Virginia when a group of students set up shop on the main quad of the campus and gave out high-fives and lemonade. The idea spread and over the years people of all ages and backgrounds have celebrated National High Five Day by giving high-fives all day to friends, co-workers and strangers.
With the advent of social media and the advances of cause marketing, social media users can give five and get five for their favorite charities with GoodWorld’s social giving tool, #donate. GoodWorld has partnered with National High Five Day to let people send the ultimate sign of support to the causes they care about.
And while not as organized or viral as the Ice Bucket Challenge was for ALS, the simple social buzz for National High Five Day had gotten viral support from everyone from McDonald’s and Best Buy to Budweiser and Subaru. MLB has taken to outreach on their social channels as well, and a World Record is in the offing in the future. Sadly much of it fell away during the pandemic, as the event was virtual the last two years.
However with the world getting back to where it should be, maybe we give National High Five Day a bit of a reboot this summer. Have MLB and MiLB pick a day, maybe in August, maybe tied to the Little League World Series or even Olympoic Baseball, and let’s set a new record and celebrate high fives. It’s a good cause, and we are overdue on brinijg them back.
Easy, recognizable, viral. Sharable; the simple ideas usually have the best potential. Certainly this one’s worth a High Five, now more than ever.
