Choose carefully whom you run with!
We all like to believe we’re so very independent;
That our thinking and acting is created only by us.
As a mindset this seems to be peculiarly Western.
And we tend then to swallow the myth without fuss.
Yet, the truth is we’re creatures shaped by deepest group instincts.
We’re the ultimate design in imitation machines.
We’re constantly monitoring the environment ‘round us.
We’re skilled integrators of the behaviour we’ve seen.
What this means (for the impact we hope we’re becoming)
Is that we don’t always sow the perspectives we reap.
Whether the influence is offline or online – no matter!
So, we’d better choose carefully the company we keep.
I’ve no doubt your intentions are both noble and sincere.
With care and compassion, as your standards, held high.
The question now arises, does the culture around you
Encourage the best you can offer, when other pressures apply?
There’s voluminous research showing how we’re affected
By a firm’s ingrained behaviour; and the agenda of a place.
It would seem that no matter how high your own morals,
What would first raise your eyebrows, you soon come to embrace.
Does the company you keep help your soul to take wings, and
Do the people you mix with draw the finest from you?
Do they consciously help you to seek out your own genius?
Does their integrity freshen your heart like the dew?
Do the purposes they help you to strive for inspire?
Have they helped you to draw out your gifts from within?
Are their clients’ lives lifted because of their skillsets?
With your life do you trust them, through thick and through thin?
I’ve met teams of such people whose presence enthuse me,
Whose striving is for something that’s far greater than them.
Whose thinking reaches b’yond their own comfort and banking.
Whose qualities radiate like a bejewelled diadem.
My invite to you is “Choose carefully whom you run with!
Find those who are playing a more Infinite Game.
Rub shoulders with those seeking to make this world better.
Run beside them today; tomorrow you’ll soar the same.
Run beside them today; tomorrow you’ll soar the same.”
