The Human Factor

Writing in Business Week, Dov Seidman looks at the significance of human connections. An excerpt:

Consider Ralph, a New York City doughnut maker, who captured the attention of blogger Jason Kottke. When Kottke handed a dollar bill to Ralph in exchange for a 75¢ glazed donut, Ralph pointed to a pile of change scattered on the counter and yelled "Next!" Kottke downed his doughnut while marveling that all of the customers who followed him either gave Ralph exact change or made their own change, as he had done. It seemed to Kottke that Ralph was serving an extraordinary number of customers. Kottke confirmed his hunch by visiting other doughnut vendors nearby. On average, the competitors spent twice as much time with each customer—and served half as many.