I recently ran across a wonderful story in the Washington Post about two high school kids who stumbled across an abandoned baby on their way home from school 20 years ago. The baby, only hours old when the kids found her, were ultimately turned over to authorities. The child was eventually adopted but not before the kids had a chance to visit her in the hospital and gift her with a teddy bear. Fast forward 20 years. The baby, now a college student, still had the teddy bear. The rescuers continued to celebrate the occurrence every year and longed to know what had become of the baby they had saved. The college student found the names of her rescuers on Facebook and hesitantly reached out to them. They in turn were delighted to hear from her and have planned a reunion.
What made the story even more meaningful for me was that I actually knew one of those high-schoolers as well as his father; they were both former ACT consultants who I had met on numerous occasions.
The above story struck me for two reasons. First, those three incredible kids were reunited via a networking site, Facebook, which wasn’t even in existence 20 years ago. And secondly, I gained a bit more insight into two of my business acquaintances.
You might feel that technology has served to make our world a bit less personal. And, while I agree that Internet shopping lacks the warm and fuzzy feeling our parents might have encountered at their local store, I think that in many ways technology has made our world a much smaller place. In fact, technology makes it even easier than ever to develop a personal connection with our business associates.
When I first started my consulting practice over ten years ago, I routinely hopped in my car and drove to my client’s location. Now, I’m more likely to hop on their computer. Although this has allowed me to expand the territory that I service, it’s also removed a great deal of that human touch. Consequently, I make just a bit more of an effort to build a better relationship with my clients. I’ll admit I cheat a bit by using ACT’s web info tab.
I recently discovered that the Travel Channel had run a piece on a cool diner in one client’s small New Jersey town, and that another client has pretty much devoted his life to finding a cure for his special needs child. If nothing else I can badger a client about a winter snowstorm when I reside in Florida, or discuss an event that might have occurred close to his location.
For me, the world just keeps getting smaller, and folks a bit friendlier!
If you’d like to read the original story about the abandoned baby you can find it by click here. You might also want to take a course on Facebook at lynda.com to see the ways that it can benefit your business.
