Musings On The “Six Degrees Of Separation”

Earlier this week I was contacted by a gentleman from another city who had been referred to me by a software company in still another city. He is going to be in Boise in a couple of weeks to facilitate an event that runs over that weekend. Not knowing anybody here in town, he was hoping to get connected to some folks where both he and they might benefit from such a relationship. I was more than happy to assist. Connecting others is what I do.

As I worked on my list of folks that might meet this gentleman’s needs (and vice versa), it struck me that within my 50 or so “short list” there probably laid the power to connect anybody to just about anybody in this town. This started me thinking about the “Six Degrees of Separation” which Wikipedia defines as ..

Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the “Human Web”) refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or less. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by a play written by John Guare.

Our groups are incredibly diverse which means that they represent industries from practically every walk of business life. As a result of that, their contact lists and relationships tend to revolve around different circles based on their particular product or service offerings. Within this diversity lies the real power. A sign salesperson, for example, is more likely to have a relationship with an architect than say a farmer. Farmers don’t buy that many signs. Let’s just say that in the 19 years I spent in that business, I never even tried to sell a farmer a sign (smile).

Here’s the kicker: Looking at my LinkedIn connections, it’s three degrees of separation can connect me to over 4,000,000 folks. Wow! That’s powerful but, guess what? I’ll bet you that at least 75% of my closest connections are not active on LinkedIn or any other social network. I’d also be willing to bet that this rule holds true for their connections. Let’s carry this a step further. The more influential my connection, the less likely the chance that they can be found and will connect with others via social media. So how do you get to know them? You need to connect with me and do so in person. You need to get to know me, build trust, and form a relationship. You need to engage. And with 50 connections that you can engage with? Things that make me go … hmmmm:)

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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