I picked up a new audio book over the weekend as part of my MBA on the Run program. Entitled the Wisdom of Crowds, author James Surowiecki takes us on an amazing journey in the study of group think. Written in a entertaining and thought provoking style this book is hard to put down. If you liked Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink or Tipping Point, you’ll like this book. Interesting social science research brought to life by an engaging writer.
One of the fascinating scenarios that James brings up is the following question..
If you had to meet someone in New York on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet?
Let’s take a look at the question in a little more detail.
- We are given the place (State of New York)
- We are given the day
- We don’t know the time
- We don’t know the meeting place
Where would you go?
What time would you go?
Amazing as it may sound, researchers found when they asked this question that 40% of the respondents chose the same time and place.
The state of New York has 47224 square miles and there are 24 hours in the day, yet 40% of the population chose the same time and place. This fascinating tidbit of group think is just the tip of the iceberg in this book. Over the next few days we’ll look at some of the other items, but today I would like to hear your comments on this one item…
What place would you go?
What time would you go?
I’ll post the answer on Wednesday.
It will be interesting to see how many people match up with the 40% group.
If you can’t wait until Wednesday you can download this amazing tome from iTunes 
I found this work to be interesting, thought-provoking, and maybe best of all, leaving you with more than a few nuggets to interject into a group conversation that will make you seem more intelligent than you really are. 
11 Responses to 'Time & Place'
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Gotta be Times Square at noon. Why? Because an uncountable number of movies and television shows have used that time and place for a future meeting.
I would meet at the statue of Liberty @ 5:00 pm
GC - Crazy, I just clicked here to put in Times Square at Noon. Not because I’ve heard it from movies.. it’s just the most central place and the most central time.
As an Australian from Canberra I would have said Empire State Building at Noon.
My first thought was noon at the Empire State building. Second was noon at Times Square.
I am going to have to go with the 40% - same time, same place. People are most creatures of habit. There has to reasonable chance that they would turn up again there.
Thanks everyone for your guesses and comments. The correct answer in the book is “the main platform at grand central station at 12 noon.” It is interesting that people came up with the right time but not the most popular place. I would have guessed the statue of liberty at noon.
Thanks for participating,
John
You have a unbelievable blog always informative!!!
Perhaps since many (or all) of us aren’t as familiar with New York, we chose different places. For me, times square is the most central spot, I’m not really familiar with Grand Central Station.
New York is a busy place. At noon, New York is a zoo. I chose the Statue of Liberty @ 5 pm because my odds of finding a needle in a haystack are reduced when you reduce the size of the haystack..
I would choose times square at noon. When was the anecdote in the book written?