Birds of a Feather Flock at Cohere. --> Fashion * Fantasy * Fine Art -->On The Fly Photography

Birds of a Feather Flock at Cohere.

I had to drive home to south Texas in March. It was 2400 total miles of excitement free highway. It’s okay though as I can make my own excitement. One thing I did for the 40ish hour drive there and back was listen to Earthcore by Scott Sigler. Another thing I did was stop to take photos. It’s what I do ya know. Yet another thing I did was listen to the Anthony Robbins 10 CD set “Get The Edge!”

Tony and I have a long history. I’ve been reading and listening to his stuff for years. Some of what he says is questionable at best. Some of what he says makes good sense. Listening to Tony talk is like listening to me talk. You have to know when to tune us out and when to pay attention as we both tend to spout BS on occasion.

As I had recently become a member of Angel Kwiatkowski’s coworking community Cohere LLC I had coworking on the brain. At one point Tony reminded his listeners of a concept that’s been around for a long time and discussed by many people. In brief it goes like this:

Your performance and the people you flock with are related. Tony didn’t say “flock”. That my word. In fact your performance and their performance will eventually synchronize. In the end there are four options.

1. If your performance standards are high and those of your flock are low either they are going to raise their standards or you are going to lower your standards.

2. If your standards are low and those of your flock are high either they will lower their standards or you will raise your standards.

3. If your standards are low and your flock’s standards are low you are all screwed.

4. If both you and your flock have high standards you are probably Felicia Day or Mur Laffety. You can stop reading now and go back to being awesome.

Upon being reminded of this I had to pause the CD and reflect. I have to pause any CD by Tony once in a while anyhow as he can really get on my nerves. Tony, I know you are excited but turn it down a notch will ya?

There are many great things about being a part of Cohere. Allow me to elaborate. Actually I’m going to elaborate regardless of whether or not you “allow me”. It’s just what I do, ya know? At Cohere I am surrounded by people with high standards. People who achieve and create. People who seek out new limits to push and new rules to break. I am in the process of emerging from eight years of employment in a place where low standards were the norm and silos were not only encouraged but actually mandated by management.

One of my areas of interest is business management and operations. More specifically how those things are going to change as the world moves forward. On of my favourite sayings (that doesn’t include bad words) is “the Dinosaur Days are over” in reference to business management and operations. The ways or running a business, the expectations for and of employees, methods of marketing and advertising, all those things that have worked for so long are on the way out. The Gold Watch days are over. Branding Only Works On Cattle. The transition to the Seven Day Weekend is starting. There is a very long way to go but it’s starting. The Cohere Flock actually gets this kind of stuff. I’m not use to being around people with this level of understanding. The Cohere Flock amazes and inspires me almost every day that I’m with them.

Yea, “almost”. Some days they slack off.

When I compare myself to the Cohere Flock I feel like an underachiever. My head hangs in shame. I cry on my pillow. Okay, not really on the crying thing. These people are entrepreneurs, writers, programmers, copy writers, technical wizards, marketing masters and more. They freelance and create and come up with brilliant ideas almost daily. By associating with them there can only be two outcomes.

The Cohere Flock can lower their standards. Not likely.

I can raise mine. More probable.

Not only does who you flock with influence your standards; your flock also holds you accountable. Your flock will hold you accountable for your actions and call you on your standards. You might say to me “my flock doesn’t hold me to anything or call me on anything” and you might be right. But the absence of standards is still a standard. A low standard, but it’s a standard. A total lack of accountability is simply the lowest form of accountability.

Your performance and the performance of the flock will converge over time. This is just a fact. Deal with it. If you go long enough without converging with the expectations of your flock, be they lower than yours or higher than yours, you are gonna find yourself flockless. Deflocked. Unflockable. Are those words? If not they are now.

Where are you in your life? Are you where you want to be? If not take a look at the people you flock with. Those are the people you are going to be like. Those are the people you are like. If you don’t like what you see you might wanna find a new flock. This holds true for your professional flock and your social flock.

Are your friends all unemployed? Are your friends all drama queens? Are your friends all alcoholics? You fit right in don’t you?

Do your “friends” at work (let’s pretend those people are your friends) spend all their time complaining? Do they all get passed over for promotions? Are they the lowest paid people in the company? You fit right in don’t you?

The truth hurts. That’s how you know it’s the truth. Hate me all you want. I like being hated. Your hatred is my fertilizer.

You can chose your future. One element in choosing your future is choosing who you associate with. A good flock inspires. That’s what the Cohere Flock is doing for me and I strive to occasionally do the same for them.