Don’t depend too much on anyone. Everyone changes when they meet new people.
Don’t depend too much on anyone. Everyone changes when they meet new people.
In the professional world, we are caught short by enabling one particular client to consume too large of an overall percentage of our volume of work. It is a very common scenario where one particular relationship is working so well, as to outgrow and out perform all of the other relationships combined. The pattern is familiar, the revenue, consistently growing, and our overall dependence is quietly and consistently moving in favor of that client. If for any one of countless reasons, that client opts to produce their work elsewhere, or is perhaps forced out of business, we will be left in a highly vulnerable position from which we must quickly extricate our business. Otherwise… our business will fail.
In a personal relationship, people are quick to bond and develop ties of magnitude. Witness what happens to close friends, when they both hit that age where their peers are getting married and having children. What was once an inseparable bond, is slowly eroded into a more casual relationship, due to life’s cycles, experiences and requirements.
As an employee, depending too much on your employer can cause equal havoc over the course of time. Understanding the dynamic between you both, learning the variables that your employer considers most valuable and working continuously to surpass their expectations is your core strategy. But you are always potentially vulnerable to the next potential hire that they opt to bring into their organization, so keeping your horizon wide open and your options very clear, is critical to your success.
Conversely, as an employer, your vulnerability to your key employees, is equally a concern. If you have built your company around one or two star performers, you are continuously susceptible to the choices that their life may give them cause to make. In that vulnerability, you may find yourself having to either make significant concessions or lose them to another employer.
In a personal, romantic relationship, you may also feel equally secure. But there does always lie the possibility that your security is not as foundational as you might predict. You could be well served to survey the dynamic between you both and watch for areas of weakness. If, or when, you discover these, open a clear and non confrontational communication between you both, so that you may ask the hard questions and learn how your true dynamic really fits into both of your respective realities.
There is one person you may always count on. And that is yourself. With each and every passing day, you should continue to mature, grow, learn, and evolve into the single greatest asset in life that you could ever possibly hope for. If you can elevate your personal stature to such a state of impressive characteristics, you can become the single greatest best friend you could ever hope to have. Then, when or if, your circumstances with others evolves, you still have the most important ally in your corner.
Happy Saturday!
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