The document discusses the importance of human connections and relationships. It summarizes research showing that social and physical pain activate similar brain regions, and that loneliness and lack of social connections can negatively impact mood and performance. The author advocates taking time to build social connections both personally and professionally. In work contexts, collaboration and breaking down silos can boost innovation, performance and results. The document provides suggestions for fostering connections and serendipity in distributed teams, such as random video calls, communities of practice, and creating conditions that facilitate chance encounters.
6. We are wired
to connect
Emily Webber
@ewebber
Photo
by
John
Barkiple
7. The FOMO is real
Emily Webber
@ewebber
(Fear Of Missing Out)
Why It Hurts to Be Left Out The Neurocognitive Overlap Between Physical and Social Pain
Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman
8. Emily Webber
@ewebber
“We intuitively believe social
and physical pain are
radically different kinds of
experiences, yet the way our
brains treat them suggests
that they are more similar
than we imagine.”
Matthew Lieberman,
Neuroscientist
10. Image
Manshen
Lo
from
New
York
Times
Emily Webber
@ewebber
“[Languishing] is prevalent
now because of the lack of
real-time social contact with
those you care about and
feeling less in control of
events, and the future, due to
the pandemic and its direct
effect on one’s lifestyle.”
Cary Cooper, Professor of
Organisational Psychology and
Health
11. Emily Webber
@ewebber
“The people who survive
stress the best are the
ones who actually
increase their social
investments in the
middle of stress, which is
the opposite of what
most of us do.”
Shawn Achor
12. Photo
by
Elinor
Hills
Emily Webber
@ewebber
“Turns out that the simple
act of making a new
social connection, talking
to a stranger on a train, or
even at a coffee shop can
significantly increase our
positive mood.”
Dr Laurie Santos, Professor of
Psychology at Yale
17. Emily Webber
@ewebber
“Human communities can
develop a sort of collective
intelligence that is greater
than the members’
individual intelligence”
Alex Pentland, Professor at MIT
18. Emily Webber
@ewebber
Groups vs individuals solving problems
A Comparison of Individuals and
Small Groups in the Rational
Solution of Complex Problems
Marjorie E. Shaw
Groups Individuals
Percentage
of
correct
answers
19. Emily Webber
@ewebber
“Companies don't have
ideas; only people do. And
what motivates people are
the bonds and loyalty and
trust they develop between
each other.”
Margaret Heffernan Forget the
pecking order at work
21. Emily Webber
@ewebber
Lonely people don’t do so well at work
Performance
Workplace Loneliness
No
Employee
an
Island:
Workplace
Loneliness
and
Job
Performance,
Sigal
Barsade
and
Hakan
Ozcelik
27. Emily Webber
@ewebber
“If a building doesn’t
encourage [collaboration],
you’ll lose a lot of innovation
and the magic that’s
sparked by serendipity.”
Steve Jobs
32. Emily Webber
@ewebber
Find interesting ways to learn about each other
Developer community at
Etsy built apps on top of
the staff directory,
gamifying people learning
who each other are
33. Emily Webber
@ewebber
Photos by: Jenny Beaumont, Emily Webber, Chris Burns, Randy Silver, Ben Witton and Adrian Howard
Find ways to
connect that
aren’t looking at a
zoom screen
35. Emily Webber
@ewebber
“I immediately linked with another Product Manager
where we had dependencies!”
Community member
“We all support each other and anyone of us would do
what we could to help another member of the
community.”
Community member
38. Emily Webber
@ewebber
Three things to take away
Take time to
build your social
connections
Collaborate with
others for better
results
Create the
conditions to
assist serendipity