If you painted as a kid, you may remember the first time you dipped your paintbrush full of colour into clean water. As soon as the tip of the brush touched the surface of the water, the colour would disperse into beautiful, uncontrolled patterns. Just like the colour in the water, the way our decisions impact each other\u2019s lives results in outcomes that we may have no control over. What we do have control over is choosing the people around us who are influencing those outcomes. This blog suggests a thought for consideration and maybe even for action: those we choose to surround ourselves with will impact our lives in unforeseen ways.<\/p>\n
Harvard professor in social psychology, Dr. David McClelland, concluded after a 25-yearlong study on the characteristics of achievement-motivated people that their \u201creference group\u201d (those we use as a point of comparison to form our values and beliefs) is the single most important factor in success. His study showed evidence that \u201cthe people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.\u201d Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger\u2019s friendship is just one example of the potential value of those we surround ourselves with.<\/p>\n
Warren Buffet, at the beginning of his investing career, made his first million dollars by using an approach called \u201cCigar Butt\u201d investing. The strategy revolved around buying a dying business while expecting an eventual, but final, uplift in the fortunes of the business, presenting the chance to sell it at a profit. After that, the business would usually die out, just like a cigar after the last puff. Fortunately for Buffet, he didn\u2019t apply the same strategy to the friends he decided to invest in. He openly admits that his early strategy was foolish. As you\u2019ve likely guessed, the one to change his mind was his best friend, Charlie Munger. Munger\u2019s approach of buying good companies with good management at a fair price and raising them up towards even greater success is used by Buffet and his $680B company today.<\/p>\n
If the investment world doesn\u2019t resonate with you, there are many other examples of how people impact our lives. Think of how a janitor\u2019s relationship with his psychologist changed his life forever in the movie \u201cGood Will Hunting\u201d. Or think of what Shrek would have done without his best friend, Donkey. So how can we make sure that the people around us \u2013 the ones impacting 95 percent of our future decisions \u2013 are leading us toward success and not into failure?<\/p>\n
At the risk of oversimplifying the complex ins and outs of social connection, surrounding ourselves with the best people must satisfy two categories: internal and external.<\/p>\n
When asked by an 11-year-old how people can have long-lasting friendships like theirs, Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger advised that we should first look within ourselves. Once we become the person we want to have around, people of the same kind will start surrounding us. If you currently find yourself surrounded by people you don\u2019t connect with, the first step \u2013 a difficult step \u2013 may be to look inside. Without introspection, you might simply be going very fast in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n
Then, look outside. As writer and motivational speaker Simon Sinek puts it, \u201cWe\u2019re not good at everything and we\u2019re not good by ourselves. The goal is to amplify your strength and surround yourself with people who can do what you can\u2019t do.\u201d Even more, don\u2019t be afraid of healthy disagreements or respectful debates \u2013 accepting to be challenged, letting go of old ways of doing things, and learning to welcome different perspectives are all part of personal growth. Finally, it\u2019s worth noting that you may not find these people next door, so don\u2019t be afraid to explore! My father-in-law finds meaningful discussions at the library, my husband embraces new ways to think at tech tradeshows, and I\u2019m trying my luck with an Executive MBA<\/a> at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. Too introverted for real, alive humans? Books and biographies aren\u2019t a bad path either.<\/p>\n Finding the right people to surround ourselves with is an art that we are all invited to participate in. As writer Gregory David Roberts wrote in his famous book, Shantaram<\/em>, \u201cevery human heartbeat is a universe of possibilities.\u201d So, let\u2019s start, fresh if we have to, take the beautiful colours we\u2019ve surrounded ourselves with, and paint a picture. Let\u2019s be intentional this time. Let\u2019s paint a legacy.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you painted as a kid, you may remember the first time you dipped your paintbrush full of colour into clean water. As soon as the tip of the brush touched the surface of the water, the colour would disperse into beautiful, uncontrolled patterns. Just like the colour in the water, the way our decisions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1238,"featured_media":31936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61,39],"tags":[895,1821,1846],"class_list":["post-31862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emba","category-mba","category-study","tag-career-development","tag-community","tag-mba-women"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31862"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32024,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31862\/revisions\/32024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.frankfurt-school.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}