Inauguration Day 2017
Each of us is surrounded.
And we are surrounded by the people we choose to surround us.
Recently, a Master Chair, David Belden invited me to speak to one of his Vistage groups. At the end of a wonderful morning together, he gave me his business card.
On the reverse, this saying (which comes in a variety of versions):
We are the average
of the ten people
with whom we spend the most time.
I've been thinking about that.
Research shows that people have the dietary and exercise habits of their best friends. We surely have similar fashion sense (or, in my case, nonsense). If your friends wear neckties or high heels, you probably wear the same.
Birds of a feather — or mullets — flock together.
Make A List
Who are the 10 people with whom you spend the most time? Make a list.
You probably share a similar worldview, similar politics, and a similar approach to compassion.
So, I've come to play with the phrase, and I think this works:
We have the views on gender and race
We are the average
of the ten people
with whom we spend the most time.
Think of your ten most frequent companions. What are their views on gender and race? Do they match yours?
What Happens Then?
Well, if we hear agreement from our ten most frequent companions, we start to think: "Huh. I must be correct."
Are we?
When we pick our peers, we pick our worldview. When we pick our worldview, we pick our destiny.
Let's pick carefully.
I'm here in Washington, D.C., for tomorrow's Women's March On Washington. Despite what happens — especially if anarchists or anti-women instigators create havoc — I am here to surround myself with people who have a generous, respectful, life-affirming worldview.
I wish all of us good luck in the years to come. May our national leadership seek peace and justice for all.