Red, Orange and Green Apples

I was once given some advice, which I am reminded of today. There are three different types of people:

• Red apples: People who think you're crazy. Sometimes they'll even try to convince you to stop doing what you're doing.
• Orange apples: People who seem like they're interested and able to help. They're not sure. But either you, or they, or both of you, think they can help.
• Green applies: People who love what you're doing and want to help.

It's easy to see that you should be running away from the Red apples. What's not so easy to see is that you should also be running away from the Orange apples. You really think there is synergy and want it to work. But too often these Orange apples lead nowhere. When you're in the business of allocating resources at the speed of light, these are resources you should be spending, instead, on more Green apples.