The company you keep will pay you dividends even for the deeds they do

If you want to understand a character of a person, you just need to pay attention and observe whom they associate with. That is going to be the best indicator, not just for knowing and understanding what kind of a person they are, but also for the direction that their life is going to take next. 

Most of us, when we think about the law of karma, we link it to the actions that we take in our life and the effect that it will have on us as a consequence. But there is another aspect to it, whereby the karma of others whom you associate with or keep company of, also influences your life and affects the shaping up of your future self. Like we say, someone else's good luck or bad luck has rubbed off on another person, just by being together or close to them, but this works on a more subtle level than that. 

That is one reason why research suggests that when a person goes to jail, even for small crime that he has committed, more often than not the person will then become a lifelong criminal. It is just the overall vibes and aura of all the others surrounding them that influences the subconscious in a very impactful way, which normal reasoning cannot easily explain. Similarly, being in the company of the holy and pious people, starts shaping your mental attitude towards a more holy and quiet nature; associating with successful entrepreneurs makes you a better businessman, with highly energetic people makes you feel energetic, etc. etc. 

Now one would think, where do I find the kind of people that I would like to associate with. I only have the group of people whom I know, which are a mixed bag of average mentalities, with some positive traits and then a ton of things which I would gladly say pass to. So firstly, I agree that over certain people in your life, you do not have much control, like your parents, their siblings, your siblings, their children, your children and other close relatives, but that said, the amount of association (at least on a mental level) that you have with them is something that you have actively chosen. Then there are others in your life, mostly your partner, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, who are there in your life mostly because you have attracted them or were attracted towards on a subconscious level. 

One way to attract the right kind of people that you want in your life is by starting to work on your thoughts, the stronger your aura and mental vibes are, the more they repel the people who do not match your desired types and also bring you closer to the people whom you actually would like to associate with. This is a like a cycle that feeds into your mental ecosystem, and the more this is practised, the more it grows and you start to see it's benefits. A good way towards altering your thought patterns is to read books and autobiographies of people, like whom you desire to be or would like to get certain traits from. The more you start doing that, more you would realise how this starts to affect your life in a positive way. 

So take the first step and start working on yourself and slowly associating yourself with ideas and people, whom you admire and would want to be more like.