No man is an island; we do not journey across our bridges alone. While each person has his or her own journey, we inevitably bring other people along for the ride or get brought along on theirs as part of our life story. All too often, this occurs mindlessly as things randomly occur and we go with the flow. We make friends and engage in activities without really understanding why these people or events came to be such integral parts of our lives, virtually intertwined. As a result, we often make ill-informed choices by not purposely engaging others in our journey.
By flipping the switch to embrace others, we turn the paradigm on its head and allow others in to help us make better-informed decisions. We enable them to affect outcomes that will impact them as well. We also typically achieve better results, benefitting from their broad experience, wisdom, and insight. After all, we can’t know what we don’t know. Others may have ideas better than our own. By actively embracing them we achieve better outcomes for everyone involved.