There is no doubt that we live in extraordinary times… awesome, really.
Yes, I know… there’s trouble in high places…
and some low places as well.
There’s concern over prices and the economy… education, health… you name it.
And you’re right… half the country is unhappy with the election, and international worries abound.
But here’s what I like…
Whatever else is going on, never in history has it been easier or cheaper to connect with other people.
As individuals, small business owners, marketers, consumers, church or association members, whatever… we need to connect with each other, and connect often.
In fact, I believe that our level of success and happiness in any area of life… business or personal, will be determined by the quality of our relationships with other people. And since such a large part of having great relationships is frequent connection, I’m all for any new technologies, online tools, or social media and networking applications that make it easier and cheaper to do just that.
Years ago, the telephone certainly made it easier to connect with others… but at $147.58 a minute to speak with friends in Germany, it wasn’t all that much cheaper than a plane ticket. Today, we speak with those same friends nearly every week over Skype for about $0.02 per minute… pretty cool. And now there’s even FREE video calling; I grew up with The Jetsons… this is great stuff.
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In fourth grade, my best friend Robert moved away… far, far away it seemed, though it was just thirty-five miles. To pick up the phone back then and make a ‘long-distance call’, well… if it wasn’t an emergency, you just didn’t do it often.
We drifted apart and I haven’t spoken to him in years, but here’s the really neat thing…
I just looked up his professional profile online; it took me twenty seconds to get his e-mail, IM, and phone number. He’s married with children, living and working just south of the Twin Cities a few hours from here. Doesn’t get much easier or cheaper than that… this is awesome. Very awesome.
I look forward to speaking with you.
Principles:
Technology continues to remove obstacles to connecting with others.
We make our relationships… and our relationships make us.
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