“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most of your time with.”
According to Jim Rohn. And me.
I’m a strong believer of this. The people you surround yourself with will shape you; whether you like it or not. If you spend all your time with five drug dealers, you are culled to the average. If you spend all your time with five missionaries, you are culled to the average. It often takes a bit of hyperbole to understand the truth behind such a simplistic and elementary notion.
The blunt truth behind Rohn’s statement is: it doesn’t matter how talented you are, how educated you are, how great of a family you come from, or how tremendous of an idea you have… if you surround yourself with deadbeats, you’ll cultivate nothing – at least nothing worth bragging about.
I’ve made it a mission to surround myself with people who push me beyond my intellectual and creative limits. Why? Not because I’m some sick sadist who likes to be battered by people who are brighter than me, but because these are the people who truly spark my creativity, who propagate my intellect, and who fuel my desires for greater successes and triumphs.
Seriously, if you’re the smartest person in the room, maybe you’re not that smart after all…
As an executive or an entrepreneur, it needs to be your mission, too. How do you expect to succeed if you don’t seek out an audience of the best and the brightest?
It is this philosophy that has driven my decision to fly to Necker Island and pick the brain of one of the smartest executives and entrepreneurs on the planet – Sir Richard Branson.
Believe me, I’m not the name dropping type of person, and I’m not the kind of person to use this trip as a publicity stunt – I’m not jumping on my email to write you and say, “look what I’m doing, don’t you wish you were like me?” That’s not my angle.
I’m telling you this, because I so adamantly believe in the philosophy laid out by Jim Rohn. Had you asked me ten years ago if I thought I’d ever be sitting down to chat with Richard Branson, I’d have told you it was a dream of mine, but would likely never be a reality. But I’ve made it a reality because I live into this philosophy. I kept striving and kept seeking out the smartest people I could find, and that’s landed me on the private island of Richard Branson.
A kick-ass team is the right place to start – find the top people and bring them in to your workforce. But, it’s still not enough. At eQ we believe it’s also who you associate yourself with outside your team that becomes a metric for success. Find the best clients, attract the best customers, and pursue an exceptionally minded audience.
Do all this… and you could find yourself on Richard Branson’s island, too.
P.S. My good friend, Yanik (yes, he’s the one dressed as a show girl), believes the same, which is why he too made it a priority to befriend Branson. Want all the juicy details behind this AMAZING photograph? Here’s what really happened in Vegas!
And remember – “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most of your time with.”
