There’s a common misconception that each of us is no more than 6 people away from every single person on the planet. That someone you know…
- Knows someone who…
- Knows someone who…
- Knows someone who…
- Knows someone who…
- Knows someone who…
…knows the President of the United States.
The “6 Degrees of Separation” myth is based on an experiment conducted in the 50s and 60s.
The resulting number 6 was true for just under 1/3rd of the participants. It wasn’t true for more than 2/3rds of the participants. What’s more, the experiment was limited in scope to the United States – around 5% of the world’s population.
What the experiment showed wasn’t that we’re all connected. It showed that some people are well connected.
If you want to be in the 1/3rd that are well connected, it’s going to take knowledge, training, practise and action.
In my view, it starts with working out who you’d most like to meet. As soon as you know where you want to get to, you can start working on how. One of the best ways is to join a networking organisation such as BNI, BRX, NRG or similar.
Thanks to modern online networking tools, I think we’re now far more connected than we’ve ever been. I bet the 6 degrees is now absolutely true, even though it wasn’t in the 60s.
Interesting idea Joseph, but I wonder whether technology changes the fact that some people are naturally inclined to network while others aren’t. Perhaps social networking tools simply help the world’s networkers connect across borders, rather than get everybody connected? It’s also worth pondering whether or not those networks are very strong. For example, my cousin lives in Chicago. He has people in his network that I’ve never met, but that I hear about from time-to-time via Facebook. I don’t consider that I’m connected to those people, though I suppose I could ask for an introduction and get connected if I wished to do so. Hmmm…perhaps you’re right!
Im surprised there isn’t an app on facebook to test this theory, it must be quite easy to implement.
Just checked out your blog it really is quite enlightening i shall most definately keep an eye on your blog, you have turned me into a steady reader.Do you have a newsletter i could subscribe to ?