Elevate Your Company

"You're moving up in the world, you gotta elevate your company."

Tonight, I spent a good portion of my night speaking with a buddy of mine, Cavan. We are Information Systems co-directors together for a organization called APEX. I'm not going to go into the specifics, but Cavan is extremely successful, both financially and career-wise. He's done a lot for himself and is at a really young age where he can really enjoy his success. Of course, he's still hungry as hell, but he is exactly where I would like to be when I'm his age.



We discussed a lot of things and he dropped a lot knowledge on me. Among them, I asked him how he was able to get to where he is today. He told me to look at the five people you spend the most time with, and look at what they are doing. If they are not where you want to be, and not doing things you want to do, then you need to find new friends. This is because you pick up the habits of the people you hang out with, and if you are in good company, then you pick up habits that will make you successful.

Makes sense. It's simple concept. I'm in the position I am because of my friends. Shuo-Hsiu took the extra time to tutor me throughout high school out of the kindness of his heart and I still believe that he is reason I ended up academically alright. Whenever I wanted to improve on something, be it interview skills, financial literacy, or even girls, I had a friend I could look to for help.

But this is definitely a lot easier said than done. He told me he doesn't believe in true friendships because in the business world, at the end of the day everyone does things for their own gain. This is a tough concept to accept, but logically it spells out success. When you help people with great resources when they don't expect it, they will be willing to help you and put you in a great position. Wasting time on people who cannot affect you in positive way will only slow you down and even push you backwards.

My logical computer science mentality and my newly gained business mentality embrace the idea whole-heartedly. However, my sentimental side has a hard time accepting this because friends are... well, friends.

I'm at a point in my life where this decision will seriously affect me. In school, while the type of work ethic the people you surround yourself with have, in terms of academia, does matter, it doesn't really matter how you think about money, how much money you have, how you think about your career, how you think about personal growth. But it matters now.

I guess the answer to this question is that we must actively affect our friends in a positive manner while they return the favor. We'll grow and reach for the stars together.

And hopefully we'll be still be together at the top.