The basic idea behind everything written here is the goal of each action we take in our lives is moving ourselves toward an objective. In order to do this we must manage our resources in an effective manner to ensure both efficiency and acceptable results. Because of this each person we meet should be considered as an opportunity to create potential future value. This shouldn’t be new to anyone who doesn’t live their entire life in a basement; we collect and manage friendships throughout our lives, whether consciously or subconsciously, for the stability, entertainment, and ability to help us succeed. All of these represent their value to us.
This can be seen as an over thinking of those we choose to keep close, but for the basis of this principle and through the evolution of my competitive philosophy I have found the best way to view everything in our lives as strategic resources, people included. Each new person we meet requires a snap judgment to determine their potential expected value. When we are growing up in school we do this to everyone in the classroom and on the playground; who can help me understand what the teacher is saying better and who presents the best value to my dodge ball team? With this in mind, the engineer we know through a mutual friend or the entrepreneur we meet at a dinner party are no different, the value they present can directly influence how we cultivate our relationship with that person.
Looking at people this way can be seen as negative or even controlling, but I would argue this is no different than how anyone views the people in their life. Friends and spouses help us make tough decisions in our lives, possibly even influencing how we make those decisions and their desired outcomes. They help us get through our failures and celebrate our successes. We keep these people close to us because this is what these relationships offer, value.
When I discuss snap judgments I refer to more than just the first impression we get from meeting someone, evaluating someone on not just their potential value and the quality of that value, but where they can offer value in our lives. This is where I choose to make an important distinction between how I feel we should value different groups of friends in our lives. Those kept closest, the ones we share our secrets and values with should generally be eliminated from viewing their value to furthering your career, mixing these resources with money and competitive gain will likely end in a negative way. The strength of these relationships can directly influence our ability to create and cultivate strategic relationships and should be seen as a base on which other resources can be developed.
Just like any other resource in business the friendships we create can be developed into core competencies and even competitive advantages. If you look at University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari’s relationship with NBA player Lebron James, you see a professional relationship that has become a competitive advantage for the coach. Their relationship began when Calipari tried to recruit James to play for him at Memphis, even though it was widely believed James would forego his collegiate career and turn pro right out of high school (which he did). However, this seemingly trivial beginning has turned into a competitive advantage for each of them over the past year since Calipari took the Kentucky job. James’ appearance at a recent home game helped elevate the national visibility of a UK program that had fallen out of the annual NCAA picture over the last few years and put a face other than the coach’s on the program. This appearance also served as a marketing event for the launch of James’ logo to appear on the shoes and uniforms for the Wildcats. For Calipari this appearance also gained more visibility on the national scale by aligning himself with a genuine global celebrity, giving him a greater ability to market himself and his products in the future.
While the example of a relationship between two highly visible sports figures being used to further the careers of the parties involved may be a corner case, by analyzing what seemed like a trivial recruiting attempt we see what turned into a marketing competitive advantage to ensure their relevance for years to come. When we encounter an opportunity such as this in lives, what will usually be on a much lower scale, we use that snap judgment to try to foresee the value it can offer us to reach our objectives and achieve our goals.
The final resource I will discuss is the relationship we cultivate for its career value that develops into a close friendship. These are the mentors we learn the most from and the associates we come to count on the most when making the decisions that greatest affect our ability to reach our goals. These are the resources that become competitive advantages as we develop our professional relationships and offer the highest expected value. By developing these kinds of resources, and consciously looking at those around us as potential ways to advance the value of each party involved, you can forge competitive strategies that give you a serious edge over your competition. That is why we compete, and having people around us to share our achievements make that competition more satisfying and even fun.
