From Bond to Bacon, via Berlin
Who do you learn the most from?
At the top of my list is Thorsten Terweiden. Thorsten has an unusual biography. He has worked in a wide variety of roles in the public and private sectors, and has forged relationships throughout Europe, Asia and Australasia.
He also featured in Tomorrow Never Dies, a 1997 Bond Film. Network theorists are fond of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, and since Terri Hatcher, who appeared alongside Thorsten in TND also co-starred with Kevin Bacon in The Big Picture in 1989, Thorsten has a Bacon Number of 2.
So it’s Thorsten I’ll turn to for insights into Holywood.
And it was Thorsten who helped track down the doctor who had saved my life 10 years earlier.
And Thorsten who investigated a mysterious family death in Germany in the 1940s.
Thorsten makes my network more valuable in some ways that are already apparent, and some that are not yet clear. As a connection and friend, his potential is still revealing itself.
So I encourage everyone to find friends like Thorsten. And if you’re in Berlin, you can join him, as the host of Walkabout – Berlin for a walk on the second Thursday of every month. I’m looking forward to attending the first one on 11 September 2025 and hope to see you there!
Between Us All
How can you identify your “Friend in Berlin”?
Imagine you’ve been invited to take part in a TV game show. You have to nominate a friend who you are going to phone if you’re asked any questions you cannot answer yourself. The quiz could cover any topic at all.
How do you choose who to nominate?
The Best Friend Fail
You could choose your best friend. They’ll be keen to help, and they’ll definitely take your call. But if you’ve been spending a lot of time together, it’s likely you already have a lot of overlapping knowledge. Put another way, people who are spending less time with you may be spending more time learning things you don’t know.
The Power of Weak Ties
A better strategy is to nominate someone you know less well, but who is adventurous, curious and widely connected. It’s likely that their knowledge will overlap less with your own, and they’ll have fresh perspectives. They’ll also know many more people that you don’t also know – in other words they will be “between” you and many more people and ideas.
Building Your Own Directed Network
While picking up LinkedIn connections boosts your “degree centrality“, engaging with brilliant weak ties can top up your “betweenness centrality” – a much more effective way to find new information and create value.
At Amitypath we concentrate on maximising betweenness centrality. To maximise yours, become an Amitypather by clicking the button below.
You may be closer to Kevin Bacon than you think!