Social Circles

It was 9:19pm last night Monday February 19th 2007 and I was sitting in my living room writing what seemed like a never ending paper on Environmental Scanning for strategic and competitive advantage.

A few AOL AIM conversations were lingering, and I was still exchanging a few text messages when it dawned on me that I was missing my study buddies. Anthony, Neena, Adrian Tricia and sometimes Robin, in undergrad we would get together and “Study”

Going to school online confines the amount of friends, study partners or general social circle that you meet. For some people this may be no problem but for others it could be a tremendous loss.

I personally did not appreciate the social circles in undergrad, I was always smarter and I felt like the circle was always holding me back or wasting my time. Oh well, you learn and grow.

Today however, as a busy corporate citizen, I don’t need the friends I have, lost the friends I had and can’t find friends like me. So maybe, for someone that could use a renewed social circle, one that is on par with their academic and corporate acumen could benefit from a brick & mortar in ways that I am lacking right now, or last night at least.

I needed people who had the same deadlines and milestones to interact with to underpin my priorities.

Needless to say I only finished 50% of the paper and we to bed.

Right before I went to bed, I played my customary nightly Texas-Holdem tournament game on my cell phone. As I looked at the list of opponents I realized that I needed a social circle of my own.

While most folks play against their own friends on their cell phones, I was playing against:

1. Bill Clinton
2. Thea Leoni
3. Donald Turmp
4. Anderson Cooper
5. Tony Blair
6. Mark Etwaru
7. Rani Mukherjee
8. Myself (Mr. Big)
9. Carrie Bradshaw
10. Neve Campbell

I have a specific reason why I chose each of those players over 2 years ago. Ask and I shall tell.

And there it was, online schools do NOT help you with your social circle, UPOX should introduce something that fills this gap/void.

And at the end of the day, success, is measured both by considering one's social circle, corporate circle, social status and corporate character.

I have work to do!

Richie