I’ve been a student of Management for 20 years. The names Covey, Peters, Drucker, and others were hard-coded in my head through years of speeches and readings and lectures.

I went to school to study management theory, then into the workforce to apply it; only to go back to school five years later once I had learned the difference between theory and application. Finally, I left school with an MBA and a solid idea about how best to run a team and to communicate change across an organization.

I had dabbled in the realm of online Social Media for a year or so; LinkedIn to land a few interviews, Facebook to talk to my grandmother, and Twitter to follow a few of my tech-savvy friends. But for the most part, they seemed to be siloed areas of interest and presented nothing beyond a personal curiosity to me.
My interests changed when some friends in the event industry  asked me to fly to New York and join them for the first “Event Camp” get-together. While there, I met some very talented people who were harnessing new media to grow their networks and business in a down economy. I wasn’t quite sure I understood it, but it was business communication, and I wanted in.

Since then, I have been a student of Social Media and the shift it has introduced in communication and business. I’ve read numerous success stories and articles on best practices, but I was a second-hand promoter – relying on others’ stories and experiences to express the power of the new mediums.

That is, until last week, when I found myself sitting on my couch on a Sunday having a conversation with Tom Peters.

That’s right – THE Tom Peters. Management guru and author of “Re-Imagine” and co-author of “In Search of Excellence”. One day, I saw him post a thought on Twitter, and I commented. He engaged and we chatted.

So what’s so great about that, you might say?

Only everything.

Let’s forget for a moment that he was in Vermont and I was in Texas. Or that I am a mere child at 35 and he is, well, a little older (Sorry Tom). He is a renowned thinker and author and voice. And me? I’m an oxymoronic MBA who expresses himself best in 140 characters or less.

Ten years ago, I couldn’t have shouted in a lecture hall and expected the personal attention I got with a few keystrokes on Twitter. He didn’t know me. But he was able to HEAR me. It didn’t matter where I was standing or what my standing was. We both had thoughts on a topic, and Twitter gave us the forum to bring them together.

That, to me, is the power of Social Media – to bridge not only distance, but difference in age and stature and education; all by breaking it down to simply, ‘what do you have to say?’

(Image courtesy of www.wisequotes.org)

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