Lessons learned on the way to 15,000 LinkedIn Connections

What’s a LinkedIn connection worth? Whatever you’d like it to be. 

A healthy relationship is organic and will go where both people want to take it. 

The relationship you have with your LinkedIn connections certainly shouldn’t be defined by LinkedIn. 

People have preconceived notions and think the platform dictates how things should work i.e. they need to have an Instagram type relationship with their Instagram connections and a Twitter type relationship with their Twitter followers, etc. 

There are no rules except the ones you make up. I’ve written about my LinkedIn philosophypreviously. 

Granted, my use of LinkedIn isn't the norm. For many, they never log in and are constantly badgered with emails from LinkedIn about notifications. 

Check out your friend requests!

See who’s clicked on your profile..

Think if Facebook or Instagram displayed this?!?!

Inspired to contribute, I've been writing thought pieces here since May 2018. 

All the time people ask me:

*What is the point of it?

*What have you gained?

I like having an outlet to give people something to think about - challenge them while giving them a laugh. 

It allows me to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world. 

For 2020 I want to go a step further and have meet ups here in Israel where we can segue from an online community to a real life one. The first 2020 #LinkedInLocal TelAviv is being organised by Yoel Israel and is happening on February 25. I'll be speaking. If you're around, you should come!

Part of the reason I like to give and contribute is that in return I receive. I gain the fuzzy feeling that comes with helping people. Given this, how altruistic am I? Then again, how altruistic is anything? There’s an actual name for this - psychological egoism.

To quote Wikipedia - psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism.

This isn’t helped by the ideals of giving being manipulated and distorted. 

It used to be that running for public office was a real sacrifice. That someone was putting their career on hold in order to serve the public. Now the whole notion of public office revolves around how one can personally profit, power and privilege. 

The early social media stars had great stories that we were interested in hearing. Now it’s become a case of working backwards - what can I do that will allow me to have sponsored posts and receive free stuff?

Pure altruism may be elusive when dealing with a first connection, but we need to widen our scope. 

X doing a nice act for Y could set off a chain reaction of paying it forward, none of which X knows about. A billionaire gives money to a hospital and has the thrill of cutting a ribbon with oversized scissors and seeing their name on the building - think how many lives will be saved because of it. Think of the good these people can do with their lives. 

So much is possible!

On this 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, apt to think of the acts of kindness made during one of mankind's darkest hours and often at the risk of life. The impact of some of these acts generations later is unbelievable.

We don't appreciate the impact of our actions - for better or for worse. This is a double-edge sword that cuts deeply. If we do something nice, someone may misinterpret it or feel excluded. This can’t be helped - there’s only so much goodness to go round and they may feel hurt or upset.

• 20 apply people for a job - one happy candidate; 19 disappointed ones. 
• Someone at work gets a promotion or a raise - what about the people who feel they had as good as or even better case for one?
• We write a nice comment on a Facebook post - people wonder why we don’t do the same to theirs. 
• There are multiple events on at once and we have to skip some. 

Very rarely are we aware of the ripple effect of our actions - how wide and far it spreads.

For better or worse, we can change the world. In 2020, we can do it on LinkedIn, we can do it from home, we can do it wherever we are in the world.

It all starts the moment we want it to - one connection at a time. 

====

If you would like to subscribe to receive an email notification whenever I write something at LinkedIn, click on the subscribe button at the top right of the page.

You can find my archive of LinkedIn articles written here

If you enjoyed this article, then you'll LOVE my public speaking. I teach age-old lessons through current-day news. Reach out to me if you're looking for a speaker to spice up your event.