In the 1960s, Harvard social psychologist Stanley Milgram studied what
he termed the “small world” problem. He wanted to better understand how people
were connected to one another.
So, he sent to 160 randomly selected people in Omaha, NE a packet with
the name and address of a stockbroker from Boston. He instructed each
individual to write their name on the roster in the packet, then mail it to someone
they thought would get it closer to the stockbroker.
On average the packets reached the broker in six steps (thus the phrase
“six degrees of separation”). Milgram initially reasoned that if the packets
started from 160 random points, they would arrive at their destination with
similar randomness. Many of the packets, however, followed the same
asymmetrical pattern. Half of the
responses that got to the stockbroker were delivered by three people. So, the
phrase “six degrees of separation” doesn’t mean that everyone is linked to
everyone else in just six steps. It means
that a very small number of people are linked to everyone else in a few steps,
and the rest of us are linked to the world through those few.
Try this. Write
down the names of 40 friends and trace them back to how they were introduced to
you. This will reveal that what people term as their “social circles” are
really inverted pyramids. A large percentage of your contacts likely originated
from relatively few individuals – your Network Pyramid Capstones.
Consider this – to “jump start” your network or
determine where your time is best spent, find your Network Pyramid Capstones.
Then reconnect with each over lunch, coffee, or whatever.
Make an effort to
develop a great relationship with these people – find ways to help them and be
sure they understand how they can help you. These individuals have been
instrumental in building your network to this point and will likely do so in
the future.