The LinkedIn we need you to build
LinkedIn and the new normal
COVID19’s impact on work—including the shift to fully remote work for most companies, and the unemployment crisis—has made LinkedIn a critical commons for us. Our sense of place has changed dramatically. Let’s not understate it, this shift is an existential one and has tremendous implications for what we expect—and need—from virtual common spaces.
Instead of going to a cocktail party, we go to Instagram, where we can share unrefined ideas and have unfiltered conversations. And instead of going to the office, or the conference, or the after-hours networking event, we go to LinkedIn to see what’s happening “at work”.
Black Lives = Black Employees
Right now, on teams, at work, there is discomfort. If the office is where we go to be polite—where do we go to share our rage? Our frustration. Our sadness. If we can’t talk about #racialjusticeatwork in the place where we go to talk about work, we have a problem.
#BlackLivesMatter includes #BlackEmployeesMatter. We must create space for the critical conversations and work ahead to end white supremacy. We are going to have conversations about #racialjusticeatwork. LinkedIn can design the look and feel of these conversations. They choose who is included, and who is excluded. Who finds opportunity, and who is denied. What changes, and what stays the same.
Make no mistake, there needs to be a transformation. We want to see LinkedIn lead it.
Are you Facebook, or are you better?
LinkedIn has a powerful position in our culture. LinkedIn is the de-facto arbiter of workplace appropriateness in the post-COVID landscape. Like Facebook in 2016, they are at an inflection point that is inherently political, ethical, and economic. It is a challenge not unfamiliar in tech, and it is one Black and Brown lives need you to be on the right side of.
From the product you design, to how you make money, to how you grow and engage your users—what kind of LinkedIn will you build next? How will you help us get to a future of work that embraces healthy dialogue? That unlocks economic opportunity for millions more? That models for the many how to make our workplace (wherever it will be) better?
This is a moment where you either repeat the mistakes of others or make wholly new ones in pursuit of getting it right.
We ask you to be brave, to be bold, and to eschew the past. We ask you to show—not tell. We ask you to build. This is not just about equality, but equity.
Now, how shall we proceed?
To the future,
Sloan Leo & Arthur Julio Nelson
Sloan Leo is the Director of Social Innovation at The Vaid Group. They advise companies on how to create more equitable, durable, and inclusive progress within their organizations. Arthur Julio Nelson is co-founder of Crazy Studios. He works with leaders and their teams set purpose, craft strategy, and build brands.