Chris Brogan’s recent post, Connect, Connect, Connect, is spot-on.
One thing I’d add…like Surowiecki’s admonition in Wisdom of Crowds for “cognitive diversity”, connections for me are the most enlightening when they span many different groups. Geeks. Artists. Business people. Supporters. Skeptics.
The most interesting things happen where the edges meet.
Get outside your comfort zone. There are a lot of neat things to learn out there, if you make the effort to meet the people who know them.
Update: This is what happens without a diverse network.
You’re right to mention diversity. That’s for damned sure. If you’re surrounded by a homogenized group, how surprising is it, truly, when something leaps up and clobbers you from outside your circle of understanding?
Thanks for adding the cognitive diversity (or dissonance?) to the premise.