Attended presentation by Karen Sobel-Lojeski regarding virtual distance

On October 12, 2007, I attended a presentation entitled “The Collapsing Corporation and the Rise of Virtual Distance: The Challenges of Driving Innovation in a World Without Leaders.” The presenter was Karen Sobel-Lojeski [1]. The event-host was the Association for Corporate Growth, Silicon Valley Chapter [2].

Based on a discussion with Dr. Sobel-Lojeski earlier that day and on the presentation, I sense that “virtual distance” could become a compelling concept for which measurement and action could prove beneficial. The topic could provide, for example, a framework for helping people make decisions about what to attempt to do and how to do such. The topic could provide a framework articulating and discussing aspects of “virtual teams,” “outsourcing,”  “diversity,” and other recently popular topics that are perhaps too often considered without considering adequately useful contexts.

One of the concepts about which Karen spoke is “ambassadorial leadership.” During our meeting, she seemed intrigued by examples I cited (from my career) that involve various people catalyzing significant outcomes by taking ambassadorial-leadership roles.

Evidently, virtual distance includes 3 categories of distance – affinity distance, physical distance, and operational distance. I look forward to possibilities of learning more about Karen’s and possibly other people’s interpretations of virtual distance. For example, Karen noted a forthcoming book on the subject. I am curious, for example, regarding the extent to which my Direct Outcomes tools [3] can support bases for measurements, ideation, decision-making, and action regarding (presumably, reducing) virtual distance.

Permit me to note that Karen and I are members of NextNow [4] and that NextNow’s founder Bill Daul [5] catalyzed Karen’s and my starting to get acquainted.

[1] http://www.virtualdistance.com/about_us.php?section=our_team

[2] http://chapters.acg.org/sv/

[3] http://thomasjbuckholtzcom.wordpress.com/direct-outcomes/

[4] http://www.human-landscaping.com/nextnow/

[5] bdaul@pacbell.net

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