Science Confirms Human Relatedness

The media must have missed this one in its strident attempts to catalog the latest Paris Hilton escapades....

A very important story for all leaders appeared in the March 2006 issue of National Geographic (okay, I'm writing this in May, 2007 ... I'm a bit behind in my reading. :-).....

In an article called "The Greatest Journey," National Geographic research James Shreeve states:

"Scientists now calculate that all living humans are related to a single woman who lived roughly 150,000 years ago in Africa, a "mitochondrial Eve." She was not the only woman alive at the time, but if geneticists are right, all of humanity is linked to Eve through an unbroken chain of mothers." (p. 62).

This is ground-breaking, earth-shattering information. Each and every one of us -- every single human you pass today -- is related. The taxi cab driver who drove you to the airport is a distant cousin. The CEO's secretary is a long-lost aunt.

This information is revolutionary because science has now confirmed what most World Wisdon Traditions have been saying for years ... that we are all part of the same family, or, as Mr. Shreeve states in his article, "Increasingly refined DNA studies have confirmed this opening chapter of our story over and over: All the various shaped and shaded people of Earth trace their ancestry to African hunter-gatherers." (p. 62)

So, you might ask, what difference does this make for leaders? I'll suggest that the difference is enormous, because it brings up this very important question:

Now that you know everyone on the planet is related to you, will you treat people the same way you did before?

Think about it.