Nearly three years ago, at 20, Yinon Gal-On founded Worlds Meet, a platform for strategic social and business connections designed to bring together senior figures worldwide, with an emphasis on the Jewish and Israeli business communities. The initiative connects industry leaders from diverse backgrounds and encourages economic and social growth during a period of profound social polarization.
“As someone who grew up in Israeli society and was exposed firsthand to its growing polarization, I always felt that in my exposure I moved naturally between different worldviews,” Gal-On told The Jerusalem Post.
“This internal diversity allowed me to observe different worldviews without judgment and gave rise to a deep sense of mission within me: to serve as a bridge and connect people from different backgrounds, who likely would never have met without the connection on my end.”
Worlds Meet uses several formats to connect prominent investors and business leaders in Israel and across the global Jewish community who had not previously met. Many, Gal-On believes, would not have met without an introduction.
Among these formats is the group meeting, where guests from different business sectors sit across from one another for an in-depth discussion of contentious issues, maintaining respectful and constructive dialogue.
A gathering at Gal-On’s residence brought together leading secular and Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, business figures from Israel and the global Jewish community to discuss the social divide between their communities.
The participants in Worlds Meet span Israel’s publicly traded companies and the international Jewish business community. The network brings together executives and investors whose professional lives have often developed within separate social circles.
Gal-On sees that separation as a market failure. Within Israel’s business landscape, large sections of the executive community operate inside insular circles. In conversation, he frequently points to the “narcissism of small differences”: two people can share nearly every layer of identity, including ethnic heritage, nationality, community background, and comparable business experience, yet a single difference in political outlook or religious perspective can generate the feeling that the other person is “not one of us.”
The result, he argues, is that groups driving the economy operate along disconnected, parallel tracks. That fragmentation leaves potential unrealized, with partnerships failing to materialize because people from different backgrounds do not collaborate.
Finding the point of connection
To address this disconnect, the Worlds Meet model relies on a simple social geometry. Gal-On likens each person’s worldview to a circle. When people with opposing viewpoints meet, they may initially see two distant circles with nothing in common.
The task is to pinpoint the area where agreement exists. Once that overlap is identified and connected to a shared economic or social interest, it provides a basis for joint action while allowing the participants to retain their differences.
Gal-On sets out the principle behind this approach in the initiative’s manifesto:
“Every society rests on three pillars: economic, security, and social. Often, the social pillar is perceived as marginal, carrying less weight than the economic and security foundations. Yet the truth is that when the social pillar collapses, it brings down the economic and security pillars with it.
“In light of the growing rift in Israeli society surrounding issues of religion, politics, and governance - I witnessed firsthand the intensifying polarization between different segments of the population. People from different communities began losing their basic sense of partnership, to the point where the very idea of civic engagement, business collaboration, or simply respectful human dialogue seemed impossible to many.
“The result is a fractured society in which each group operates in isolation and fails to realize the full potential inherent in collaboration - and consequently, the security and economic pillars collapse alongside it.
“Out of a profound need to serve as a social and economic catalyst uniting the different parts of the nation, I founded Worlds Meet, an ideological enterprise designed to serve as a business and social bridge between industry leaders from diverse communities in Israel and across the world.”
What makes someone well-connected?
In a few years, Worlds Meet has given Gal-On access to senior figures in Israeli business. From his position as an intermediary, he offers a definition of what it means to be well-connected.
The term usually brings to mind the number of a person’s direct contacts: a phonebook packed with familiar names. In Gal-On’s view, the strength of those connections also depends on the role that person plays in the wider network.
In network science, betweenness centrality measures how often a node lies along the shortest paths between other nodes. Applied to human relationships, it helps describe the importance of someone who connects people or groups that would otherwise be more difficult to reach.
Removing a person who plays that intermediary role can force others to use longer routes to reach one another, or leave some connections unavailable. Gal-On applies that idea to Worlds Meet, seeking to make it a point of connection through which business leaders can turn ideas into joint projects.
Particularly since October 7, 2023, he said, leaders across the Israeli and global Jewish business communities have sought commercial and social ties outside their traditional circles. Those introductions can expose executives to opportunities they would otherwise be unlikely to encounter.
Worlds Meet facilitates investments, strategic partnerships and joint business and social ventures, with the aim of helping participants work beyond their existing social and professional networks.
An artist’s approach
The perspective guiding Gal-On’s introductions draws on his parallel career as an international artist specializing in underwater photography. He began exploring the medium at a young age and credits it with shaping his approach to understanding people and situations.
He has exhibited internationally and is represented by EDEN, formerly Eden Gallery, which shows his work in locations around the world.
His artistic career has included:
- A solo exhibition on Fifth Avenue in New York through EDEN.
- A solo exhibition at Art Miami through EDEN.
- Video art screenings in Times Square, New York, over six weeks through ZAZ10TS.
- An exhibition in Dubai in 2021 following the Abraham Accords.
- Five major exhibitions in Italy over the past five years.
In Dubai, Gal-On participated in “Abyss of Bliss” alongside Israeli artists Ariela Wertheimer and Keren Shpilsher. The exhibition followed the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements that established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020.
For Gal-On, the artistic and business sides of his work are closely connected.
“Coming from an artistic background rather than a traditional corporate path provided me with an entirely different toolkit,” he said. “Art sharpened my sensitivity and my ability to examine complex situations from multiple perspectives. That same creative lens directly serves me today in forging high-level business connections.”
Avner Stepak, a co-owner of Meitav Investment House and Gal-On’s partner in Worlds Meet, told the Post:
“I am deeply involved and have also invested in Worlds Meet. The exclusive initiative connects centers of power, the leadership of Israel’s business sector, and the top tier of the Jewish economic world in the US and Europe, particularly at a time when our society needs bridges due to ongoing polarization.
“For me, what is truly remarkable about this story is the person behind it: Yinon Gal-On, a partner and close friend, who has just turned 23. Yinon has built an extraordinary network with the most influential figures on the global stage, leading this activity quietly, driven by a deep sense of mission that delivers first-rate economic value.”