Redefining Jim Rohn's famous quote

The late Jim Rohn is known as a true American entrepreneur with an interesting rags-to-riches story. He was also a great mentor for many business leaders worldwide. There are many great quotes that bear his name. One of his more popular quotes is frequently repeated by entrepreneurial podcasters, consultants and public speakers. John Lee Dumas liked to end his famous daily podcast, "Entrepreneur On Fire," with Rohn's quote: "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." At its core, it is saying that you want to be purposeful about the people you hang out with because you will become like them. I'd like to challenge this quote as being only partially accurate. I realized this after a young man I was mentoring gave me some feedback about how the quote I shared had helped him avoid getting arrested. After a counseling session, he visited an old friend and ended up unintentionally being in a room full of drug dealers that used to be his friends many years ago. As he sat there, looking around the room, he said that he suddenly remembered the quote I had shared. As he was in the process of completely turning his own life around, the young man knew he did not want to be the average of these hoodlums. He decided it was time to leave and return home. He found out the next day that just a few hours after he left, his friends went out together, committed a felony and were arrested! So why was the quote inaccurate if it helped save my young friend? Because as we talked, he mentioned to me that he frequently found himself as the leader of the social groups in which he participated. He said that he does not want to be the average of those friends. I enthusiastically agreed but started wondering if it is likely that the leader of a "weak pack" will be dragged down and become the average of the pack they lead. Clearly, they would stop growing if they didn't hang out with more people who had skills they needed to learn and obtain. My suggested twist on this famous quote is: "You are heading in the direction of the people with whom you spend the most time." From a business perspective, if you spend the most time with quality individuals who have excellent skill sets and strong habits that you do not have, you will learn from them and grow your own abilities over time. If you spend the most time with associates who have lower ethical standards and less skills than you do, you will stop growing your own abilities and they will slowly suck you dry of your own growth potential. The bottom line here is to surround yourself with at least some high-quality people who have attributes that are more finely tuned than yours. That practice will help you grow. Even though you might feel good in comparison if you surround yourself with less-skilled people, you are not learning the skills, attitudes and attributes that you aspire to obtain. Does this mean that you can't help others less fortunate than yourself? Does this mean that you have to ignore certain family members if they are less educated or not as skilled in attributes you want to learn? I certainly hope not! This quote should not turn us all into snobs who shun those who are less experienced or skilled. We have an obligation to help others so their averages rise too. The idea is to improve the quality of your circle with whom you spend the most time. Maybe you can swap your commute music with a podcast or self-improvement audio book. Maybe occasionally skip lunch with your coworkers and attend a chamber lunch event or schedule a mentoring meeting with a respected business leader. Possibly watch less funny kitty videos and join in on a quality Facebook group discussion with creative entrepreneurs. Maybe watch a little less TV and read a little more. Many business experts claim that their TV was a partial hindrance to success. There are hundreds of ways to boost the quality of your network and growth habits. That group of five might change over time as you grow and develop. It's the average that you're going after. You don't want to be the grasshopper at the master's feet all the time but you certainly won't grow if you surround yourself only with grasshoppers. (If you didn't get that reference to the old TV show, "Kung Fu," don't worry about it. It just means you're a lot younger than I am.) R. Scott Alvord, MBA-MCA, BSCS. Scott is an award-winning, multi-business owner, and CEO of Advanced Development Concepts, LLC. He can be reached at www.ADCBiz.com.