Monday, January 23, 2012

The six degrees of separation is now one degree

I'm convinced that you can get to 75% of the world in just three stops. I just got back from Thailand where I was conducting some business:

I traveled from Salt Lake City to Portland (1st stop).
Then to Tokyo (2nd stop).
Then to Bangkok (3rd stop).

By adding in a 4th stop you can cover 95% of the world.  I added a 4th stop and went to a small beach town called Krabi. (I'd never even heard of the place before!) But from Bangkok I could have gone to nearly anywhere in Southeast Asia.

We've all heard of the Six Degrees of Separation where you can connect yourself to anyone within six social connections. I think our ability to connect has dramatically shrunk. For example, I can send a personal note to @MittRomney or @BarakObama or @JLo. Of course it doesn't mean they will read it, but I now have a direct connection to them (or their handlers).

The point is that the world is shrinking my friends! We are no longer confined within our own borders. If you're not thinking global in everything you do, your not thinking big enough.

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