EP #029: If you’d write it on Slack, post it on LinkedIn

Executive Summary

• Identify Your True Audience: While CEOs often focus on external audiences like investors and clients, it's crucial to remember that your team is your most engaged and impactful audience.
• Leverage LinkedIn for Team Connection: In remote work environments, LinkedIn offers a direct channel to communicate your vision, values, and strategic thinking to your team, filling the gaps left by packed Zoom meetings.
• Inspire and Align: Regularly sharing your leadership philosophies, personal journey, and strategic insights on LinkedIn can inspire and align your team with the company’s mission and goals.
• Strengthen Relationships in a Remote World: Remote work can erode relationships and create disconnection. LinkedIn allows you to maintain and strengthen your presence, providing your team with much-needed clarity and connection.
• Showcase Leadership Values: Use LinkedIn to spotlight your leadership values, celebrate your team’s achievements, and openly discuss company policies, reinforcing a culture of transparency and trust.

Deep Dive

When I onboard new CEO clients, I always start with a basic question: Who are you trying to reach with your LinkedIn content?

Clients go on to list their target audiences: customers/clients, investors, potential acquirers, and other industry leaders.

But they often overlook the most obvious (and arguably most important) audience they need to speak to: their team.

Few audiences are more engaged with your content - or have a greater stake in your ideas - than your colleagues. And they’re hungrier than ever to really understand how you’re thinking.

A Direct Channel to Your Team

Many teams today are entirely remote (like mine). Our Zoom calls are tightly packed meetings, with minimal time for connection, answering questions, or explaining our thought processes.

LinkedIn can help us solve that. It’s a way to communicate efficiently, but thoughtfully, with our employees and network at scale.

With some nudging from my team, my clients are now using their LinkedIn content to:

• Remind people about their passion for the company’s mission
• Reinforce their team values
• Break down their strategic thinking
• Repeat their key goals and objectives
• Share their leadership philosophies
• Open up about their personal journeys
• Spotlight and thank their colleagues

Inspiration for Leaders

One of our clients, who leads a remote team, has embraced LinkedIn to do all of the above.?

Here are some partial snippets of posts that spotlight his leadership values and thinking on company practices:

?Example #1:

I loved this post. As he goes on, he explores how radical candor is a pillar of his leadership style. The personal start to this post is incredibly powerful: it shows his humility as a CEO, and demonstrates that he’s willing to be vulnerable about his mistakes and his growth.

Example #2

Our client’s company had a major shift in PTO policy. Talking about it on LinkedIn was a chance to share the strategic thinking and research that went into making this decision. It also showcased his values: happy employees are good for business.

Example #3?

Who hasn’t felt imposter syndrome at some point? By sharing his own experiences with insecurity, this client immediately makes himself more relatable. Plus, by going on to share the unconventional path that brought him to his role as CEO, he’s showing his team that he embraces unique career backgrounds.

Example #4

In this post, our client does two things:?

1. Breaks down the strategic reasons why the company home-grows its leaders?
2. Celebrates his colleagues who grew into team leaders

It’s a win-win. He gives his colleagues insight into how the company thinks about employee development, and he shows how much he values their contributions.??

Your Presence is Needed

Most CEOs and senior leaders don’t have regular opportunities to be on the front line with their teams. And that’s a problem, because our teams yearn for more connection these days. Remote work is eroding our relationships. News headlines inject uncertainty into the workplace. The day-to-day pressures of work distract us from talking about our shared missions.?

Leaders - your presence and connection with your teams are essential to your success, now more than ever. And LinkedIn is one of the fastest and most direct ways you can connect with your entire team.