He looks friendly, no?
As many of you who read this may know – I’m down in Miami, FL on an extended stay to build connections and business for our new office here. At present this has really been about networking, learning, seeing, meeting and connecting to the community and the individuals. We’ve had some great introductions and I am constantly suprised at the rich connectivity between the Berkshires and Miami… But what’s there to be suprised about? It’s easy to move back and forth between the two and as the snow flies in MA the blue skies in FL look better and better.
Working on connections has taken me down the rabbit hole of social media – facebook, twitter, linked-in (who would have thought – it’s actually useful now!) as well as some tangents – Kred.com being my most curious find today (shows your connectivity/influence, etc.). Now I’ve always been a pretty active user of these tools but I’m not a recluse. I really like meeting new people in the flesh and talking with them, sharing a cup of coffee or a meal, and getting under the surface.
Which gets me to the point – connections are in and of themselves not enough. Touching base with the other person at the other end of the wire – be it by phone, email, skype, inmail, or whatever – is really the point when sparks start to fly a little. Connections in today’s world are counted by Klout and Kred – brand names that rank you on an algorithmic popularity scale – but just like high school, popularity is not necessarily all it is cracked up to be. Friends – real ones – matter the most. Respect, knowledge, touch – matter.
I’m a geek but I’m also human. Recently I was reading about some research that was looking into how interacting with the smooth screen of an ipad triggers fundamentally different parts of our brain than interacting with the physical, tactile world – you can throw a virtual ball but never experience the physical act of throwing. I’m interested in this difference right now as I reach out to connect – when will the virtual become the real?
Lets see how it goes. If you happen to want to connect in the real world, and we are already connected virtually – reach out! -Drop me an email or call me. I’ll be happy to shake your hand.
