Today was the first I have heard of the new book Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter. . . But Really Do. NPR just posted an excerpt from the book and, after reading it, I thought some of you might want to know about the concept of "consequential strangers." From the excerpt:
When humorist Joel Stein, a regular contributor to Time magazine, read the proposed 2006 list of influential people, he decided his editors should "get out of the building more." Chinese businessman Huang Guangyu, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, and Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquiere meant nothing to him. "What about people who actually affect us?" wondered Stein in his annual sendup of the Time 100.
He created his own list of 100 people who mattered to him. The "Joel 100" included his lawyer, his CPA, his renter, the man who delivered his bottled water, and the couple who sold him his house. Time included his list with Time 100. A few weeks later, a 75-year-old man wrote to Time to say he had been inspired to write a list of his 100. And eventually Consequential Strangers was published.
Who are consequential strangers?
[T]the countless everyday people who touch our lives and influence us personally.
...
They range from long-standing acquaintances to people we encounter on occasion or only in certain places. They cut a wide swath across our lives, and yet each is linked to us in some way and fills a specific need.
On the book's Web site is a testimonial about the book from Mark Granovetter:
This welcome antidote to hand-wringing about the “loss” of community and social ties shows in rich detail what a diverse and complex social tapestry we weave. Drawing deftly on both recent scholarship and riveting personal stories, Consequential Strangers pulls together the many social strands that other works distort by viewing one at a time. Neither mindlessly upbeat nor morosely glum, this is the essential guide to navigating our new twenty-first century social waters.
My reading list is growing daily. I think I will put this one near the top.
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