Homophily: Birds of a feather, flock together

Homophily is the concept, first coined in 1954, as "love of the same." The idea being that we, as people, like to hangout, talk to, and network with, those who are similar to us. No news there.

But Diversity asks us to do the exact opposite, i.e. Heterophily. To mix and communicate with the "other" or people who are different than us. No news there either.

The point is we have to make conscious efforts to move out of our own "homophily" and into a more "heterophily" mindset.

Listen to Tim (04:45 minutes) talk about homophily and how Courageous Conversations can help people learn the skills to effectively operate in a heterophily-manner, experience some "serendipity," and increase their business effectiveness.

Here are a variety of links and articles that will tell you more about Homophily:

Wikipedia - Homophily is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others

CIA Advertising: Homophily Theory - most human communication will occur between a source and receiver who are alike

O'Reilly Radar: Homophily in Social Software - ...raises the question of...how much they should encourage homophily and how much they want to mix it up

Washington Post: Why Everyone You Know Thinks the Same as You - ...shows that homophily is on the rise in the US on nearly every dimension of social identity.

Let me know what you think.

Talk to you soon, Tim.