Last week I was having dinner with a group of folks in the advertising business.  I asked a couple of friends if they were familiar with a local business that has been in business for half a century that does work for the advertising industry.

The first friend said he was but had not used them as a vendor recently because his company had outgrown the capabilities of this 50 year old vendor.  I believe that what needs to really happen is the vendor needs to reconnect with his company and they should be able to form a working relationship again that would be beneficial for all.

The other friend had not heard of the vendor.  Both the firm my friend represented and the vendor each have a 50 year history yet, they have not had a working relationship in the past decade or perhaps ever.

This is common, not an exception to the way we live our lives, both personally and professionally.

We have a relatively small circle of friends, or circle of businesses that we do business with and unless we make an effort to expand that circle, we become isolated.

Isolation is limiting.  Limits are neither good or bad.

Our brains limit or filter the 5,000 advertising and marketing messages we are exposed to daily, thank goodness.

When we visit our favorite restaurant, we have a small handful of items that we limit ourselves to when selecting our meal from the hundreds of possible menu items and combinations.

I could give more and more examples of Circles that we live in that we have either limited or are expanding, but instead I have a couple of questions for you and me:

  1. Compared to 2010, how have your circles changed?  Grown, shrunk, stayed the same?
  2. What Circles would you like to grow in the next couple of years? Or let’s get even more basic with: What changes do you want to take place and what circles do you need to change in order to make that happen?
  3. Finally, how can you help others expand their circles by way of introductions, conversations and connections that will enrich their lives?