There’s
a theory that each and every one of us is separated from anyone
else in the world by only six steps. Most people know about this
idea from the Kevin Bacon game, where you connect Kevin to another
actor in six or less moves.
I’ve
seen articles that attempt to offer proof that it’s true, and
frankly I have zero doubt that it is. (That said, I admire and
respect Dwayne Johnson, but I doubt if I could make a phone call
that gets a referral to the next and ultimately leads me to him
in under six numbers. Still, he has an open invitation to come
over any time. We’ll fire up the barbecue, play some cards, and
have a great afternoon. He can bring a few friends. Do you think
The Rock likes s’mores? I’ll bet he does. (Umm… sorry… got a bit
carried away. Back to it…))
Consider
this…
You
make a call to your local town or city seat of power. You (step
one), call a city councilor (two), who then contacts the mayor
(three), from which someone reaches out to the governor (four),
then a senator (five) and finally the president (six). Boom… from
you to the White House is six people. And that was a rough six
steps because I wanted to hit six. I think chances are pretty
good that if we really needed to move with a strong idea, any
of us could skip the city council and get in touch with the mayor.
I also believe with the right motivation that a governor could
place a call to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and not need the senator.
The
president in four steps? We could reach anyone in the
world in six steps if we can reach the president in four.
It’s
not that simple, is it?
No.
If it was, we’d all be calling the White House (and Dwayne Johnson’s
calendar would be booked solid for the next thirty years).
But
let’s say it was.
If
you could reach anyone, and all it took was literally a handful
of doors being opened, what directions would you venture?
There
are two interesting thoughts that occur to me when I consider
the very idea of it.
The
first is that in their regular life, most people could be successful,
very successful, but when given the opportunity they aren’t willing
to do the work.
The
second is something I have always heard attributed to Ross Perot.
He was asked about taking all the money in the world and distributing
equally to all of the people in the world. His response was that
given a short period of time, he’d be right back where he was,
with millions (if not billions). And, added to that, most people
would slide back into their positions as well.
And
while in general terms these ideas have some differences and are
open to extended discussion, they these match up nicely because
they’re built on the same premise. Fools will be fools… you earn
what you contribute… the world owes you nothing. There’s a reason
so many lottery winners end up quickly with nothing. Back to our
six degrees…
I
may not be able to speak with The Rock. Might never happen. But
the real truth of the matter is, I have never dedicated any time
to sitting down and trying to figure out how to get an invitation
for our barbecue into his hands. So, before I can officially say
he’s out of reach, I have to admit he’s never officially said
no because I’ve never officially tried to ask.
World
can be an interesting place when you force it to tell you no instead
of assuming it will tell you no. Not because you’ll be guaranteed
of constant success, but rather just because you will experience
success in some places where before you had accepted failure.
So,
if you’ll excuse me, I have some e-mails to prepare, research
to do, phone calls to organize and a grill to clean. It’s going
to be a great afternoon (even if I end up cooking only for one).