Your vibe creates your tribe. What I mean is that your vibe is what draws the people around you together. Think about your work associates and even your circle of friends––how do they fit together? How do they function together as a group? If you want to do good for mankind, then make sure your partners and investors are like-minded. It is important for all of us to realize the best business opportunities in the world can be ruined by the wrong partners and wrong investors. Forming a productive group of business associates has everything to do with the vibe you give off. Make sure that all the members of your tribe have the same vibe before you even waste time in a meeting.

The saying “your vibe creates your tribe” was brought to me recently by one of my millennial grounders. These young people keep me grounded from a millennial’s perspective, which is important in today’s business world. It turned out to be good advice, too, as I used it within a couple of days. Let me explain…

I was in a meeting on a project we have had a team working on for some time. We have a provisional patent filed on the process we are exploring and have already given it many hours. The team is very excited about the potential scale and impact of this good for the people and planet venture, so this meeting was important to moving the ball forward. I had invited an industry expert and a potential investor, but it didn’t take long to realize that the industry expert (who is not on the founding team nor an inventor of the patent) had already collaborated with the potential investor to the point that I realized I had just been “vexed” and it didn’t feel good. It started me thinking about what my millennial friend had told me.

vexed [vekst]: adjective

1.irritated; annoyed: 2.much discussed or disputed: 3.tossed about, as waves.

Now, I have to own my vibe on this project. I had to evaluate the fact that my vibe brought together a tribe that had different values than I do. It was difficult, in the moment, not to voice my displeasure with the expert and investor. I brought them in thinking there could be a quick and easy way to finance the deal, and that we would all fit together smoothly. Not completely sure now why I thought this, but what I am sure about is that I have to own my vibe which created this tribe––so I said nothing.

The time to express your voice is when you are being accretive to a discussion, building on it, contributing your thoughts to the group mind and being a positive force. Although I love it when people are authentic and use their true voice, when they really let it bellow out, there is a time to have a voice and a time to hold it back. My thought process after the meeting was that this was not the time to express how vexed I was feeling.I really question whether or not, in a group meeting scenario, a negative throw-people-under-the-bus-mentality is ever right. Always use your authentic voice, but use it in a positive way to build on the group thought process.

After the meeting, when I got in the car, I called my wife. I vented about being vexed, but then really analyzed how this was my fault and nobody else’s. I had to accept that there was a real lesson here and had to really think about it and share it.

I had a 3 hour drive home afterward so I had time to process and think about what had happened. I really wanted to share my observations and thoughts. Hopefully there will be a morsel that is of value to you. So I guess this is actually my first triple letter blog: Your vibe creates your tribe, but also vexed and voice, too.

To make sure your group meets up with your ideal, let your vibe create your tribe! Start with the vibe of the people you are sharing your concept with first and you won’t be vexed or need to analyze whether to use your voice or not, because if the vibe is right, the tribe will be right and your voice will always be positive and accretive.

Vibe on––

AZ