Shock, awe, and grief: life cycles on

As you know from reading me here, I am co-presenting a LinkedIn Event on May 18th .

LinkedIn also allows you to select connections to invite directly. In doing so, I am scrolling through names I recognize but photos that do not seem to be the same person, yet they are.

Beyond time taking its toll, the pandemic has taken a noticeable effect toll on the faces and hair color of so many people I know.?Their locations and headlines have changed, which is completely expected because people change jobs, industries, etc., on a routine basis, but they look much older. Like they aged 25 years in 2 1/2.

Some look exactly the same, hence I used the word “awe” in the title. {I wonder if they really do…}

The pandemic has tried men’s and women’s souls. And hairdressers and photographers.

Look at your headshot. Is it pre-pandemic? Do you need a new picture? Likely so.

I just had mine redone so consider your haircolor, cut, facial lines, etc. Does your headshot look like you today? Need a referral to a headshot photographer??Easy! Sorry, but I can’t help you in the hairdresser/barber department.

And worst, as I rotate through my connections, it is jarringly painful to see that so many colleagues have died, of COVID or any other reason or disease, yet their profiles remain as if they are still frozen in time and still?accessible on LinkedIn.

Alas, they are not.

I have posted on the proper way to ask LinkedIn to remove a profile of a deceased family member a few times, most recently here on my blog .

Please pass it along to others who may need to take that painful next step to remove someone no longer here with us from the platform, as my public service.

It's just good housekeeping, right?

Shifting gears back the earlier theme of this article, you owe it to yourself to provide a visual for contacts to want to approach you. To look at you in a phone call, to get acquainted with your face before they actually meet you. To put your best "face" forward.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Now look at your profile headshot. You need to be truthful with yourself: do you look interested, interesting, and a-lively on your profile? Like your true self?