Connecting or Just Communicating?

I read this article by Darren Hardy

Are You Connecting or Just Communicating?

It seems the networking series really seemed to connect with many of you. To continue the discussion and to introduce you to our May issue of SUCCESS with the social network star Mark Zuckerberg on the cover, below is my Publisher’s Letter from the issue. They key point is, you don’t need 1,000 ‘friends’ or even 100–see how many below…
I communicate a lot—on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. I also process around 300-400 emails a day and who knows how many text messages.

But recently I spent some time sorting and categorizing my database of more than 10,000 “contacts,” and I had a startling realization. While I might be communicating with tens of thousands of people every day, outside of encounters with my immediate family and business team, I am not really connecting or fostering very many real relationships at all. I’m what’s called a mile wide and an inch deep, and that’s not how you strike oil! I’ve been mistaking communication for connection.

Since having this epiphany, I’ve noticed how many other people suffer from this same affliction, mistaking the time they spend transmitting and receiving information with time spent making meaningful connections. Don’t get me wrong—both communication and connection are essential today, but one simply does not equate to the other.
With the pace of business and life today, it’s so easy to fall victim to this way of thinking; we must move quickly and convey as much information as quickly as possible to stay competitive, or so we think. With all the opportunities technology provides—enabling us to work from just about anywhere and to expand our reach, quite literally, around the globe—it also has become a crutch in some ways.

I think true connection happens face to face, heart to heart, live and in person. Sharing the same physical space. Sharing an experience together. Even in a business context, I’m sure you’ve experienced the difference between having a meeting in person versus a conference call or the great limitations of communicating over email—not to mention the shallow experience of simply reading a Facebook update or a tweet.
A wise person once said: there are only a dozen or two relationships that will take you to any level of success you desire.

Think about that. Not 10,000, 1,000 or even 100. Ask Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey, and each of them will tell you that no more than two dozen relationships contributed to their extraordinary achievements today.
But you can’t just communicate with people in those two dozen relationships; you have to connect with them. These connections can only result from your continued efforts to nurture deep and meaningful relationships.