Have you ever thought about the number of people who have made a conscious contribution to your success?

I spend all my time helping business leaders, and their teams, unpack the company genius that they take to market.

That genius is almost always based on the genius of an individual – often the founder. That origin of genius is often where unique market differentiation occurs.

As I think about the many founders I’ve worked with who have created real company genius, I started to wonder how many of us stop to think about all the people who have made a conscious contribution to who we become and the success we enjoy.

Parents, siblings, teachers, employers, mentors, friends, customers, colleagues …

All the people who knowingly, willingly and positively taught us, challenged us, supported us, encouraged us, acknowledged us …

People who were interested enough to want to help us get to a higher level.

Then I wondered if there were common traits among these people that caused them to have a powerful impact on the lives of others.

In my list of people, humility keeps showing up.

I wonder, what is the most common trait amongst those people in your life story – and how could you go about paying that forward?