Four Degrees of Communication

Something different happened two weeks ago when about 60 of us gathered at a remote location with spotty Wi-Fi, very little structure, and plenty of unhurried time together.

During Covid, my friend Eric Schurenberg, then Inc.’s editor-in-chief, taught me about the three degrees of communication. The concept resonated because it explained something I had felt but never fully articulated.

The first degree is written communication — email, text, Slack, WhatsApp. It’s fast and efficient, but also where misunderstandings happen most easily. People can’t hear tone, read body language, or fully understand intent.

The second degree is video communication — Zoom, Teams, Google Meet. During Covid, these platforms became essential. You could see faces, hear voices, and recover some of the human connection missing from writing. For global communities, video became incredibly powerful.

The third degree is in-person communication. Nothing fully replaces sitting across the table from someone and breaking bread together. I often get on a plane just to have lunch with someone. On paper, it can seem inefficient. But over time, I’ve realized those trips are often some of the highest-value things I do. Trust builds differently when people gather in person. The conversations before and after the meeting often matter more than the meeting itself.

For a long time, I thought the top of the pyramid was in-person interaction—until I recently realized the environment’s role. After the EO Grit Unconference two weeks ago, I’m convinced there’s a fourth degree. The fourth degree isn’t another communication medium. It’s the environment surrounding the communication.

Over the last year and a half, we built the EO Grit community largely through WhatsApp, with some Zoom along the way, because our community is truly global. Then, about 60 of us gathered in person for the first time. We intentionally chose a remote location with spotty Wi-Fi, very little structure, and plenty of unhurried time together. The limited connectivity improved communication. People had to detach from their phones. The upshot: fewer distractions, fewer interruptions, more presence.

And something different happened. People stayed in conversations longer. They opened up faster. Relationships that had developed online over many months accelerated dramatically over just a few days.

The structure itself became fluid. Some discussion groups stayed in formal rooms, while others migrated outdoors to patios and walking paths. One session only attracted three participants. Instead of forcing the format, they simply went for a walk together. All three later said it became one of the most meaningful conversations of the event.

The topics also went deeper than what you typically see at entrepreneurial conferences. One session focused on divorce and entrepreneurship — a topic I had never seen openly discussed in that setting before. Tears flowed. The conversation became deeply personal. And because the environment felt safe and unhurried, people stayed with the discomfort instead of rushing past it.

What struck me afterward was that the magic wasn’t simply that we were physically together. It was also about the environment we created around being together. You can sit in conference rooms with people all day and never really connect. And you can build extraordinary relationships when you intentionally design conditions that encourage real human interaction.

That’s why I now see communication as not just about the medium. Written, video, and in-person matter, but the environment shapes their true impact. The environment elevates communication to its highest potential.

That, for me, is the real fourth degree of communication.