LinkedIn Will Save The Planet

It’s true.

LinkedIn can and will save the planet.

Now, this may sound like a strange statement, but go with me on this one.

Let’s start with the concept of growth, and how it sits at the core of the very notion of business. Growth is the polestar that has driven commerce, fuelled investment, and super-boosted the globalised nature of commerce - and it’s the primary reason that 830 million people use this platform.

But let's consider 'growth' in the sense it's broadly understood here, in the thriving business ecosystem that is LinkedIn.

The concepts of business and growth are essentially inextricable in our minds, because for the longest time, our collective approach has been one of measuring success by the metrics of growth. It wasn't always thus, but nowadays, if it can be done, it must be done in a way that sells more and claims more market share and audience, in order to fuel 'sustainable' profit. Ahem.

Growth is the holy mantra that business, globally, chants every day in the High Temple Of More. It’s an immutable given. It is unquestionable. It is Sacred.

Growth is how business functions. Growth IS business. It’s business as usual.

'Business As Usual' Is Hell On Earth

But here’s the thing: business as usual has created hell on Earth.

So much so, that our pursuit of growth is now coming up against some stiff resistance, from its biggest supporter, now turned biggest opponent. And who would that be? That would be our planet.

Take a look around: the writing's on the wall. It's in the water, it's washing up on that Instagrammable tropical beach - and it's knocking on the door of business, loudly. Our planet has reviewed our growth plan, and has served notice that our supply & support agreement is hereby terminated on ethical grounds. If we were a client, we'd be the kind of client that's shown the door for breach of contract.

Turns out - spoiler alert! - infinite growth on a finite planet is a contradiction in terms.

It puts the moron in oxymoron.

Dead Planets Are Bad For Business

To riff on a theme, there’s also no music on a dead planet - and importantly for business as we know it, there will be no profit, on a dead planet. Turns out, dead planets are bad business. Not a good look, no matter how the mavens of immaculate spin try to frame it.

Which brings me to how and why LinkedIn will save the planet.

I don’t know about you - and we likely haven't met, but if you're reading this, chances are we might agree here - but LinkedIn has been a very good platform for me since signing up. And, like you, for growing a professional network, polishing career trophies, and spring-cleaning my CV showcase, all that.

830 Million Professionals In Seek Of Growth Can't Be Wrong

Peer-reviewed, verified, certified, qualified. That's a pretty formidable validation scenario in a - growingly - shifty world. It's evidently a canny system that wins at being the most effective at helping companies and employees join dots and get validation in pursuit of professional advancement, and... growth.

830 million professionals can't be wrong, right.

And this is the other, other, thing. Over the last couple of years, beyond the beating of loud growth drums - and the incessant bombardment of spammy LinkedIn Hacks For Growth posts - I’ve noticed a trend that I’m fully behind, and which gives me hope. And lord knows, the pantry's running low on stocks of that everyday essential round about now.

Just Me Or Is There Possibly Hope Up In This Echo Chamber?

The cause of my hope?

The growing (OK, I'll try and find a synonym to replace that word, but I can't promise you anything as I'm quite busy right now) rise in the use of LinkedIn as a platform to voice and share content that reflects concern about our future, nature, and climate. Much of it is focused on businesses that are walking the talk, and who are racing to bring solutions that act in tandem with nature. As they draw attention to themselves, these conversations are becoming something of a canary in our collective commercial coal mine.

It’s a growing (sorry) body of discussions about how business as usual is not, in fact, good business. And those discussions are, uh, growing (oops) in size and substance. And as they do so, so the volume and visibility of the issues in play themselves are…eh… growing. Badoom tish.

The Algorithm That Bit Its Own Feed

The best thing? The algorithm notices. The algorithm laps it up. And when it does, like a snowball rolling downhill (remember snowballs? Weren’t they fun? Moving on…), those conversations pick up weight, momentum - and attention.

And as they increase in size and reach, the algorithms acts like a diligent waitron, serving these spicy conversations higher up everyone’s feeds. Quell surprise. To the extent that, beyond the intended audience of progressive humans who actually give two shakes of a shit’s tail about the state of their home planet, these conversations are also catching the attention of naysayers.

Gar?on, a fresh plate of contentious debate for the Corporate booking! They've decided to order the daily special, even though it appears to largely consist of healthy greens.

It’s true: even the cheerleaders and stormtroopers of unfettered growth and business as usual are, by dint of the sheer volume of these vital and largely un-orchestrated chats about sustainability in its manifest forms, now weighing in and debating the validity of alarming claims and data that points towards the collapse of the edifice that is business as usual.

Of course they would weigh in - it's LinkedIn, after all. They weigh in, albeit often with odious and oil-slicked opinions, but all the same they're participating. Even if nobody else loves the shills of doom, you can bet your bottom oil dollar?the algorithm does. It's not very judgy like that.

And that’s actually great, because it provides a (here it comes again) growing platform for their networks to be alerted, in turn, to some of the most important discussions taking place on this planet right now. Because LinkedIn is after all hardwired, like all good algorithms, to highlight and promote engagement, interaction and... you guessed it: growth.

A Fine Turn In The Age Of Wrong Turns

Now that’s a fine turn, if ever there were one. A positively poetic algorithmic ouroboros. And wonderfully, ultimately, this is the kind of activity that is changing the global conversation at a rate, level - and in a manner - never achieved before.

These important conversations about better ways of managing human-natural business relations are inveigling their way into corner suites, and the corridors of corporate power. They may be uninvited, but they're nevertheless insinuating their way into boardrooms, governments and inner sanctums. They're the talk of the digital watercooler. The gossip of the online coffee station. That's social media for you.

Decision-makers - the genuine bigwigs, the actual change-makers whose hands are on the tiller of HMS Everlasting Growth - are thus getting a whiff of a broad and (this’ll be the last time, I swear) growing cacophony at the gates of business. The answers are blowing in the wind - and this time it's a wind of change that's become a Force 10 gale, gathering in strength, whipping up rough seas and shivering every timber.

This time, it’s not just the peasants that are revolting. It's not just the cleaning staff posting subversive JUSTICE FOR THE OGONI Ken Saro Wiwa flyers in a display cabinet of the basement of Royal Dutch Shell at Waterloo HQ, after hours and away from the prying eyes of the company's CCTV. That's so 1995.

Not this time. This time, it's a reason to cancel Bring A Kid To Work Day, because the cheeky little blighters are making a racket, asking embarrassing questions about sustainability that make the bosses uncomfortable.

This time, it’s middle management. It’s line managers. It’s the whole damn company, from the receptionist all the way up to the boardroom - hell, even some renegade radical activist shareholders, whatever next!? - and damn if it isn’t also those faceless consumers. The ones who spend the money on the products and services that drive... growth.

Us.

You can just hear the consternation from the penthouse suite:

"It's the influence of that damned upstart Gretha - she and her sedition are corrupting the minds of innocents! Whatever next!

Damn those turtle-cuddling-tree-harassing-yoghurt-weaving-no-PFAs-in-the-water-sustainability-demanding turncoats! Almost like they don't understand business! How very DARE they want products and services that don’t piss poison all over the natural world! What utter unfettered umbrage! This will not stand!"

Turtle Cuddling, Tree Harassing, Yoghurt Weaving Turncoats

Times have changed. The frontier has shifted. This time, it’s not going to be possible to shout them all down. This time, it simply won’t work to astroturf the comments or outsource the PR war to battle-hardened keyboard shills, or a friendly local greenwashery think tank. This time, the sedition is in every corridor. It's in a Zoom, scheduled for tomorrow. It's in your Teams meeting. It's a blinking notification on Slack that just won't die.

The people who do give a damn are not going to sit down and shut up this time. They’re not going to accept a union-negotiated package that will keep them pacified, complacent and compliant, so that the engines of (last time, I promise, hand on heart!) growth can hum on unhindered. This time, the noise at the gates is too loud to ignore. This time, it’s for real, and it’s for keeps - because the sargassum of concern choking the commercial coastline of LinkedIn has sparked global citizen-led conversations of consternation that cannot be wished away, Photoshopped out or dumped in a digital landfill away from prying eyes.

And that’s how and why I believe LinkedIn will save the planet.

Thanks for coming to my LinkedIn Talk!

I’ll be in the garden if you need me*.

If You Liked That, You'll Love This

(a humble request: please like, share or repost this article; most appreciated)

*As of June 16th I’ll be back on the open market, as a communications specialist with a yen for a healthy and happy home planet.?If you like the sound of that, I'd be happy to chat about working to make a better future through effective content that has a real-world positive impact.

Get in touch: [email protected] (or pop me a note here on LinkedIn)

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