Recently, I read an article called “Six degrees of Lois Weisberg” by Malcolm Gladwell. Weisberg, dubbed a “connector” by Gladwell, was born in 1925 and has devoted a large part of her life to fundraising and philanthropy in the Chicago area. The article, which highlights all of the great (and not to mention exciting) things that Weisberg has done credits her accomplishments to her effortless ability to make friends from all walks of life.
At first, all of the things that she had done and all of the famous and interesting people that she had met made me think, “wow, this woman really is a connector, a socialite in her own right”. But then I realized something. All of the things she’s done and people she’s met arent simply because of her ability to meet people and be charistmatic, she is also an affluent woman. Daughter of a judge, wife of an attorney, ex-wife of a dug store owner. She isn’t exactly the homeless woman walking down the street.
But she also isn’t miss popularity. In fact, I’m curious as to how many people actually know who Lois Weisberg is. Because, and I'm making an assumption here, the only reason that Gladwell knows who Lois Weisberg is is because he was her son’s roommate in college. Lets say my roommates parents were Ambassadors, or Diplomats, and I decided to look at their social network. Would it not be similar to Weisberg’s? And would writing an essay about them not be the very same thing that Gladwell did?
Lois Weisberg-affluent white American woman, born and raised during a time of political, social, and economic unrest. Did all of these factors pave the way for her? Is she a so-called “connecter” because she had time to socialize with the best of the best? I bet its a lot easier to raise money privately when you’re attending “power lunches” with Chicago elite. And what about her hitting up billionaire John D. MacArthur for money to fund a festival? I mean, she was eating at the Pump Room. It’s not like they ran into each other at Fridays (as if.). For those of you who don’t know what the Pump Room is check it out here (they refer to themselves as having attracted Hollywoods greatest- go figure).
Hmmm, all of the pieces are starting to come together now, aren’t they? As the saying goes, all of the stars were just perfectly aligned to make it all work for Weisberg. Now, I do think that everything that she has done for her community is wonderful, but it’s definitely no coincidence. And I wouldn’t say that her ability to communicate with others is the only player in her game of Life.
With all that said, I think that while this article really pinpointed the importance and power of communication, Gladwell was able to manipulate reality. He took a concept, communication and its role in society, and then found a story to make it fit. Not the other way around.
On that note, another article I read looked at researchers at MIT and reality mining. Measuring real-life data, and using it to predict communication patterns and gain insight as to how people communicate in the real world. What they found was that groups are more efficient when the team members know each other well and feel more comfortable around one another.
This leads us to the importance of tweaking reality. If two employee’s in an office don’t know each other well then perhaps it is in the best interest of the company that they start getting to know each other. Even if they work in different departments, you never know when a vital piece of information could be exchanged between the two of them that otherwise may have never occurred. The ability to map out this kind of information, who knows who, who is going out with who, can be of tremendous value to companies big and small.
Then again, these are the kinds of things that Lois Weisberg has been doing for years, tightening networks and whatnot. Why has it taken us so long to get on board, could it be that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are making us impersonal recluses?
Doubtful, I think that the advances in social communication thanks to these sites have increased our ability to make new friends as well as rekindle old relationships. Life is about balance people. Talk to your friends on facebook, but once in a while go out for lunch or coffee, too.
Check out the articles I mentioned here and here
Well, I'm on my way out now. Going to Five Guys, maybe I'll run in to the Obama's and ask them to give me money for a little party I'm throwing.
Just kidding, Haiti is way more important right now, and you can do you part by donating to Haiti relief funds.
Some big ones are the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and more recently created, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Awkward, but ANYTHING for a good cause ladies and gents!
Have a great day :)
