Newsletter 12: Digital Leadership

Leadership Is Action Not Position! A lot of Executives struggle with their online presence and leadership. Some are not convinced of the added value, others are scared to damage their offline leadership by posting the wrong things and some just lack knowledge. Many researches now show that Young Talent are looking for companies where employees including Executives have a strong presence online. Call it Thought Leadership, in this era you might also call it Digital Leadership. My international partner Richard Bliss is an expert in this field and recently published his book "Digital Leadership - Master Social Media as an Executive".

Q: Could you briefly introduce yourself Richard?

Absolutely. I’m Richard Bliss, founder of BlissPoint, a consulting company specializing in teaching executives how to be digital-first leaders.

What does that mean? 

I lead by example every day on social media––training and guiding executives and sales teams to create personal brands, become thought leaders, build online relationships, and develop digital customer engagement online.

In other words, I train professionals on how to build a digital presence. 

I’ve seen a lot in the world of tech and have a background in marketing with Enterprise tech companies, authoring a book, and running the podcast: “Digital-First Leadership.” 

I’ve worked with top tech executives worldwide, helping them boost their digital reach and presence. It’s not intuitive to most people. 

Q: You were voted Top Voice Linkedin in Sales Globally in 2019. How come?

For ten years, I have been teaching and training companies on how to grow their online presence. My teaching style is unique. It involves hands-on activities that drive specific behavior changes. My customers see the world differently after working with me. 

People don’t naturally change. And my approach helps companies see behavior changes in their salespeople, which leads to success with their customers. LinkedIn recognized me for making that contribution to help people in sales become better at their jobs.

Q: You have expertise in LinkedIn Social Selling and Digital Leadership. Where did you get your knowledge?

Funny enough (although I wasn’t laughing then), the catalyst was losing my job and as a VP of Marketing and being replaced by my ex-wife. 

While I was unemployed, I started a Kickstarter podcast from my garage that grew quite a big following. And along the way, I took a deep dive into learning all that I could about social media to become an expert at marketing Kickstarter projects. It worked. And of course, I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with people like you, Richard van der Blom. Your data has helped prove what I felt about social media intuitively, especially LinkedIn. 

Also, trial and error. Never underestimate it. I owe much of who I am today to learning lessons skinning my knees. Now, I say that with a caveat: Do some research first. Get some advice, take a class, and maybe even hire a trainer. 

But make sure you are consistently showing up along the way. No one is expecting perfection. And you will learn the most by taking action. If you don’t take action, all the training and classes in the world won’t help you. 

To be successful with trial and error, you have to be willing to fail. 

Q: You recently published your book about Digital Leadership! What was your motivation?

Empowerment.

I spent a lot of my life growing up not feeling seen because I was always the ‘new kid’ jumping from school to school (you can read the full story on my Medium blog). I know very well what it feels like not to be included or have your voice heard. 

And executives from Gen X and Babyboomer generations are facing just that. They are struggling to lead and have their voice heard on social media because they don’t know how to use the tools available to them. 

I am here to empower them and show them how they can step into their role as a digital-first leader. And in the process, I help bridge the gap between Gen X/Babyboomers and the Millennial/Gen Z generations, which has also been a critical aspect of my mission. 

Q: What are your 3 best tips for Executives to become a Top Digital Leader?

1. Be Predictable: Show up regularly to provide your thoughts and insights. Make a schedule, so your followers know your cadence. 
2. Be Persistent: Post at least once per week and comment on at least 3 people’s posts (in or outside your network) per week. Don’t expect overnight success. There is no such thing. Plant the seeds for today, cultivate them daily and harvest your crops at the end of the season. 
3. Be Present. Be where your tribe gathers. Follow hashtags that are pertinent to your industry. Follow people who are thought leaders in the industry. Read and leave thoughtful comments on their posts. 

Q: Which pitfall needs to be avoided by Executives on LinkedIn?

• Thinking it takes too much time to engage on social media. It doesn’t. With only a few minutes a week, any executive can begin participating in the online conversation. A carefully placed tweet, thoughtful comment, or an interesting post on LinkedIn are critical first steps.
• Believing that social media is inherently self-promotional. Your purpose is to show up to serve your followers. You captivate them by offering value and showing them your personality and leadership qualities that helped you get to the executive level. You should be both personal and professional, but you must be authentic.
• Not showing up because you have ‘nothing to say.’ You have accomplished amazing things in your personal and professional life. Yet, you see yourself as an ordinary person doing everyday things. But social media thrives on these types of ‘ordinary’ conversations. Your audience wants to hear the trappings of your life and career.

Q: Anything to add?

Living in the digital era is neat. It offers a wide variety of opportunities that weren’t available to the generations before us. Just think––you have access to the whole world from your living room in your pj’s. 

By taking a few steps and showing up consistently, you can increase your reach expanding your influence far beyond what you’ve ever imagined. 

Q: Where can people buy your book? 

You can purchase a copy of DigitalFirst Leadership on Amazon. Get your copy in hardcover, paperback, or Kindle. And if you prefer the Audible version, as many do, I found out––that will be available in June. 

Want to know more?

Does your organization want to leverage the power and success of Social Selling? Please feel free to contact me via: ? +31 6 55 11 72 82 or ? [email protected]

Also we can have a *free* 15 minutes call to Boost LinkedIn within your company. Just schedule it yourself via the link below

Calendly Richard

About the author

Richard van der Blom (1977) is the founder of Just Connecting and currently working as Strategical Social Selling Trainer and Consultant for various international clients. He developed the B.E.S.T. Social Selling method, currently used by many of his clients, as well as various Social Selling strategies within LinkedIn. As a member of an independent European LinkedIn Think Tank, he has extended knowledge and insights of different aspects of LinkedIn, such as Sales Navigator, Account Based Selling/Marketing, the algorithm, product development and tooling.

As an inspiring Keynote speaker, he spoke at Annual Sales Kick-off meetings in over 17 countries . Provided LinkedIn training and consultancy since 2009 – as on of the first Dutch entrepreneurs – and trained over 48.000 (!) professionals at more than 650 companies.