I met my friend Jake’s friend today.

We chatted about my interests and in social enterprise and because he worked at a startup for a while we got to talking about business and philosophies around it. He said that his CEO wasn’t a bad guy, but unfortunately did some shady shit in order to benefit the startup. He exaggerated some things and ended up getting caught for it.

I believe that in life, you will come across these kinds of decisions often. Life will test you and test your character. Tempt you with the easy way out, the route that is dishonest, puts others down, questions your character.

In the long run, you should never pick that route. While it may help you for the short term, operating out of fear or selfishness always comes back. Whether immediately or in 10, 20 years, it will come back to haunt you if you don’t stay true to yourself and try to always do the right thing. The right thing may not always be the easiest thing, it rarely is, but if you want to succeed over the course of your life, you can’t afford to burn bridges and hurt people.

Because life is about human connections. It’s about who you communicate with, who you collaborate with, who you connect with.

I honestly believe that when you are trying your best for yourself and to uplift others along the way, you cannot fail.

Time and time again, in every industry and in every context, when you are trying to give back to others and help make an impact, the universe gives back to you and there is a perpetual positive cycle.

Take companies, for example. The organizations that have put their employees first and thinking of people first have found success even through difficult times. Because when employees feel invested into, they stay through the hard times and they work twice as hard. They’re more dedicated an take more ownership in what they do, they motivate themselves to do their best work for the company and that is priceless. That isn’t worth sacrificing for a quick buck or to cut costs. The same goes for clients and customers. Google didn’t succeed because it wanted to make money for itself, it succeeded because at the core of its paradigm is to create solutions for people, to be thinking of people at its center. What’s the point of money if you aren’t helping anyone? What’s the point if you don’t have someone to enjoy wealth with?

All the leaders of our time and generation didn’t get to where they are because they were concerned with money. They were thinking about impact and about the world around them and their contribution.

Money comes and goes.

But people, people can make everlasting change.

Dev said that my paradigms were in the right place. He believed that I would become a leader, famous one day. I was very touched by that and really appreciated his praise. I could tell that he was a smart guy, and to have support from people you respect, is everything.