Surround Yourself with Maturity

Hello and welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am the host, Thomas Anglero, and my mission for this podcast is to share with you those private thoughts and reflections that I have being one of the top keynote speakers around the world on technology, motivation, and innovation. I hope you truly enjoy all the lessons I share, all the dots I connect that sometimes are just really difficult to get out but it's all for you. I truly hope you enjoy this episode.

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero. Let me ask you, are you the most mature person in your group, in the network of people that you surround yourself with on a personal level? And not or, and in business? This is a huge question, and you need to reflect on that and find the answer to that, because if you are, then you're being dragged down. Most people give the advice from Jack Welch, the famous CEO, saying surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. That is absolutely true. That helps to elevate you, helps elevate your intellect and find ideas that you didn't know. And also because they're smarter than you in areas you probably don't spend time on, helps your business to grow. Get that. But do you surround yourself with people who are more mature than you? People who are more confident than you? Let me tell you a story. I recently was in a meeting with 3 other gentlemen. Each one of them were CEOs, extremely successful. They've all already made their fortunes, okay? They've made their millions and they're continuing to make millions, more and more. The 4 of us were in this meeting. We sat there for a few hours hammering at a new business model, coming up with a new strategy. It was fantastic. It was non-stop action. I was so comfortable. I was, I was, I was, um, I wasn't like a school kid, but you know that inner feeling of like, God, this thing feels like I've been here my whole life. And the ideas were flowing. I took up a lot of room, finding a lot of holes. And then we challenged each other, and it was fantastic. Respect for everyone, but everyone was on their A-game, and it made me be at my A+ game. And I realized I left that meeting saying, this was a meeting of maturity. Meeting of people who weren't insecure, a meeting of people who are confident, and it made me feel even more confident. That's one of the major keys to success, is to surround yourself with people who make you feel more mature, who make you feel— or make you not just make you be that absolute exact CEO, that perfect person, that articulate person, that inquisitive person, that strategic person, that great listener. All those qualities that everyone wants someone to be, or you want to be, you're that. And that's— you're pulled up by the other people that surround you, but by their maturity level. They could be smarter than you, but if they're immature, they'll use their smartness to pull you down. They ever thought about that? It's really not the smartness that you surround yourself with, it's the maturity. You can surround yourself with people who don't have any high school, they never graduated from high school, never graduated from college, but that woman, she's experienced. Let's say she's a grandmom, she's raised kids. She's raised grandkids. She never had time to do the school thing. Her maturity is through the roof. Her smartness, according to the MBA business schools, is nothing. But yes, she could give you the sage advice that you need every single time. So again, I ask you, Are you surrounding yourself with people who are more mature than you are? Or if that question's too hard, equally as mature. But then you have to ask yourself, if you're going to do the play the game of, well, they're about as mature as I am, if you're going to do that game, then you better ask yourself the question, how mature are you? And that's a tough question. Do you complain? Do you whine? Or let me get straight to the point. Do you take everything as your fault? If you do, then your maturity level is high. High enough to play the game of let me surround myself with people more mature than me to call my bullshit. But if you blame other people, then your maturity level is not that high, or it's not high enough. Surround yourself with people who are more mature than you. So in that moment, you are the best version of yourself. And most importantly, in that moment, speak. Because an immature person would say, "Oh my God, all these people are more mature than me and they're smarter than me. I can't say anything." Then you failed and you're not ready. But in that moment, you speak, you be heard, you exist, and then you excel. Go forth, spread beauty, light, and surround yourself with people who bring you up by being more mature than you. Now, that's tough. It's gonna— might take a while to find those type of people, and it may not be 3 people. I was fortunate enough in this one meeting— unfortunately, we have meetings regularly, so I'm definitely blessed with this one group of people. But it could be just one other person. It could be a person that's non-business related, right? Like the example I gave, it could be a sage old grandma. It could be also your postman or postwoman, doesn't matter. These people, people have been around the block. Maturity is something that comes with living life, failing, getting up, failing, getting up, succeeding, getting up again. That's maturity. Surround yourself with those people. Don't surround yourself with people who have a lot of great pieces of paper saying, "I got diploma this, diploma that." I know a doctor. He has tons of diplomas. His maturity level isn't that high. His bank account is high, it's pretty big, but he's not the most mature guy I know. But he has a lot of diplomas and a lot of money, but I won't go to him for life advice. Some, in the areas that I think he's cracked that nut, but not for all. Who do you go for, for life advice? Who's that person or those people that lift you, that call you bullshit and make you be the ultimate version of yourself. I love you. Until the next time, this is Thomas Anglero. Take care of yourself and surround yourself with people who make you more mature. It is an important, important thing to do. I promise you. Until the next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.