Chapter 9
We’re All Connected
Whatever it is that you want—a new client, a better job or career, a business of your own, more money, a wider social circle—you can’t get it alone. No one can. We need each other to achieve our goals and dreams. Howard Schultz didn’t make Starbucks into a global coffee company all by himself. Jack Welch didn’t make GE one of the most valuable companies in the history of American business sitting alone in his office. Oprah Winfrey didn’t become “Oprah” single-handedly. They all needed others to make it happen. They may get all the glory (and take all the credit), but their list of acknowledgments is no doubt deep and long.
That’s why random networking works. It always has been, and always will be, through others that we achieve our objectives and realize our hopes. That’s the power of synchronicity. You need something, and presto, it shows up in the person sitting next to you. There’s something someone else needs, and poof, there you are for him or her.
Synchronicity is the reason this book is in your hands right now. About a year ago I was sitting next to someone on a flight, a complete stranger who was deeply immersed in a spiral-bound notebook. He was reading intensely and making notes, occasionally staring up in thought, and then adding sentences and commentary to the pages. What is he working on? I wondered. A business plan? A brochure? A presentation? I didn’t want to interrupt his concentration, so I knew I would have to wait for the right ...
