From the Founder, Brian Mazza 1/12

Protect Your Ecosystem

Have you ever had a friend who was jealous? Super competitive? Not really wanting you to win. How about a family member who was super selfish? This analogy makes you think twice! I looked in your cup to see if you had enough. You looked in mine to see if you could get more. That single sentence explains more about relationships, partnerships, and environments than most books ever will.

It is a reminder that you must be careful who you allow into your life. But even more important, you must be intentional about who you allow into your ecosystem. Your ecosystem is not just the people around you. It is what they measure, what they value, and how they show up when there is nothing to gain.

A healthy ecosystem is built on exchange, contribution, respect, and alignment. Everyone involved is adding something. Energy, effort, honesty, or perspective. An unhealthy ecosystem looks similar on the surface but feels different underneath. It is built on extraction, comparison, quiet scorekeeping, and unspoken resentment.

This is why paying attention to what people measure matters so much. Some people measure growth. Some measure effort and standards. Some measure values and long term alignment. Others only measure what they can take, what they are owed, or how they stack up against you.

Here is the hard truth. Your job is not to fill every cup around you. Your job is to protect your ecosystem so it stays healthy, honest, and sustainable. High performance requires boundaries, clarity, and standards.

Because when someone is always watching your cup instead of filling their own, they are not a partner. They are a liability.

High performance is not about having more people around you. It is about having the right people around you.

Standards first. Access second.

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