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Education

StreetSmarts SM

Surround yourself with the right people

By Marc Beauchamp I play a lot of tennis and am considered a pretty high-
Bankcard Life level player. The only way I can really improve is to find
someone better than I am to practice with, someone who
ho you spend time with will determine challenges me and pushes me to think differently, to work
your trajectory in life. I just finished a great harder, to focus more. It's the same in every area of life.
book by Donald Robertson titled Think Like Work only with the best
W a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of
Marcus Aurelius. If I saw one pattern repeated in Aurelius' Beyond your personal life, the next most important place
life, it was that he chose to spend time with mentors and to surround yourself with the right people is your busi-
friends who challenged him and added something of ness. All successful organizations have the right people in
value to his life. This is a trait of all super achievers. the right seats. Attracting and keeping the right people is
paramount to the life of the business.
Jim Rohn captured this truth when he said, "You are the
average of the five people you spend the most time with." If you ask successful ISO owners, they will tell you they
Indeed, the people you spend the most time with affect are the sum total of their employees. If you have been luck
your way of thinking, self-esteem, behavior and self- enough to have built a company large enough to hire em-
imposed expectations. ployees, congratulations. Many small players never grow
Shake up your inner circle that large or do''t care to.

If you are the sharpest person in your circle of influence, Having made poor hiring decisions in the past, I can tes-
get a new circle of influence. You must continue to tify that the wrong team member can set your business
challenge yourself and reassess what you want to become. back for years and cost you untold resources and potential
A great way to do that is to surround yourself with high income.
achievers who push you and encourage you to expand
your boundaries. When building out a team or organization, always hire
A-grade players at every level. Look at Steve Job's philos-
There are many ways you can improve your associations ophy in the 1980s. He recruited people by dramatically
and inner circle. Join a mastermind group, a new unveiling the MacIntosh and seeing how interviewees re-
community, Bible study, meditation class or gym. Hire sponded to the designs. He even unplugged an engineer's
a coach, network in business groups, or volunteer for computer and forced him over to Macintosh from the Ap-
a business committee or the local chamber. Become ple II team because Jobs recognized his A-player status.
involved with your church business ministry. The list Maintain the highest standards
goes on and on.
You also need to build your company with a collabora-
Choose the virtues or character traits you want to tive hiring process through which a candidate tours the
strengthen in yourself, and find a person or group that company and everyone who is relevant for hiring that
has what you want. candidate.

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