Speak Up, You Never Know Who is Listening

It’s been an interesting journey so far in my 18+ months of adventures and lessons as a new solopreneur. I am still yet to “arrive,” but looking back, I’ve made significant progress thanks to the community I’ve found and built on LinkedIn. One of the scariest things about joining, and more specifically, contributing to a digital, public conversation, is a fear of the unknown. This “unknown” relates both to peoples’ receptivity and response to what you or I share. This is a valid fear/anxiety that we can all trace back to the butterflies in our collective stomach when we raised our hands to participate in the classroom. On LinkedIn, similar to the classroom setting, everyone is listening, our participation matters, and also counts toward our grade.

Let me ask you a question... why did you join LinkedIn?

Was your goal simply to create a profile just to say that you have one, or were there some higher aspirational purposes for the time and effort you expended? I’ll bet that you had goals of (re)connecting with friends/professionals you already knew, meeting new people to expand your network, and furthering your professional development, including finding new jobs. The challenge is, it’s very hard to achieve any of these goals if you remain a silent observer or passive member in this digital, public, professional square.

I learned about the 90:9:1 rule in a recent post by my colleague Austin Belcak. This rule applies to online groups and provides this breakdown of members:

• 90% - People who only observe - they don’t create, share, or engage
• 9% - People who don’t create, but engage with & share content
• 1% - People who create original content

In reviewing this rule, ask yourself, “Am I in the 90%, 9%, or the 1%, and where should I be to achieve my goals?”

If you do the math, by joining the 9% + 1% = 10% that create, engage with, & share content, you gain potential attention of the 90% who simply observe. If you take the steps to begin creating original content, you can now gain the attention of 99%. What a scary and/or amazing opportunity, depending on how you view it. ??

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a nervy moment when I get ready to hit the “Post” or “Publish” button and release my thoughts and perspective into the world. Thanks to social media, especially platforms like Facebook and Twitter, those of us plugged into the Matrix have been primed and conditioned to respond to “Likes.” To varying degrees, our emotions, self-esteem, & even validation (via our cognitive reward centers) have been hacked (intentionally) by these platforms to respond and fluctuate based on the currency of “Likes” (Sidebar: check out S3E1 of ‘Black Mirror’ on Netflix) It’s no wonder many professionals remain in the 90% because the marketplace of “Likes” has no impact.

But here’s the challenge, what’s the point of having a LinkedIn profile if it’s not making any impact on your career? LinkedIn is an amazing tool that will remain inert until you actively use it.

Speak Up, Because You Never Know Who is Listening & YOU Have Something Unique to Say

There is literally no other Nii Ato Bentsi-Enchill in the world. My parents blessed me with a first name that combines names from their two different Ghanain ethnic groups, which isn’t normally done. My experience living and & going to school in 4 different countries + working in HR (financial services) + executive search (nonprofit/higher ed) + higher ed + executive career development + having graduate degrees in counseling psychology + my overall life experiences = a perspective no one else has. I sometimes laugh to myself at the fact that as a career coach, we are often talking about the same topics all the time, but that doesn’t mean that my unique way of seeing the same topic doesn’t add value or won’t resonate with others. 

You are also 1 of 1. Uniquely made with a combination of life and professional experiences possessed by no one else but you. Whether you are in tech or beauty, nonprofit or healthcare, you have valuable insights, opinions, and perspective to contribute. The lens through which you see the world and the way you interpret and share information is different from others. When you choose to share what you were uniquely created to, there will inevitably be people who will find immense value in what you have to say. You never know who’s eyes/ears you will catch or life you will change by sharing parts of your own.

As I’ve grown my presence and voice on LinkedIn, it has never ceased to amaze me how open, friendly, and supportive the people I have interacted with have been. I’ve made friends with fellow career coaches I’ve never met in person. I’ve been invited to and appeared on multiple podcasts, and I have offers of potential collaboration awaiting once the right idea sparks. This was not my reality in June of 2019, one month after I announced the launch of my business. Back then, no one really knew who I was because my participation on the platform had previously been sporadic at best. I was in the 90%. 18-months later, it’s an entirely different story because I made an intentional move into the 10%.

What’s been even more interesting, however, is who has been paying attention to the content I’ve been posting. Not only has creating content allowed me to make connections and gain colleagues within my field, I’ve also had feedback from coworkers from 3 jobs ago, old friends from undergrad & grad school, former clients from my last fulltime role, and countless individuals I have zero prior connection to. All these individuals from various parts of my life known & unknown have been reacting to, engaging with, and messaging me as a result of taking the rewarding risk of putting myself out there. Any one of these individuals could change my career if I strike the right chord...but nothing can happen if I never play a note. The same goes for you.

There’s nothing special about me. If I can, so can you.

Ways to Become Part of the 10%

I’ve been producing ~1,200 word articles bi-weekly/weekly for 18-months because my work depends on demonstrating thought leadership and my ability to write. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Here are a few things you can do:

Reactions: ???? ???? ??  are nice, but not enough. This is the lowest bar of participation, which I encourage you exceed at least once every other time you look at your news feed.

Comments: this is the easiest & most accessible way to share your voice. I recommend commenting on the posts that truly spark your interest and provoke a response. This will allow you to engage authentically with the post’s author and other respondents & will increase your ability to make a value-added contribution. “Great post!” is nice, but comes off much better as a conclusion to a more substantive comment that shares your knowledge, perspective, or experience in an additive fashion. LinkedIn is about being part of the conversation.

Sharing: sharing interesting articles related to your professional interests and/or industry helps you engage other professionals who would benefit from this information. Try to go the step further of adding a bit of your own analysis, highlighting a key quote or idea, or posing a question inspired by the article. This is how you can add value & create engagement around your post. Sharing a link is nice, but adding your thoughts on the content shows how you think.

Writing Posts or Articles: This is is where your voice can truly shine. You don’t have to become a thought leader from post #1 -- but no one ever became a thought leader by keeping their thoughts to themselves. If one can build a massive following on Twitter in 140 characters @ a time (now 280), you can share your unique thoughts in a LinkedIn post’s 1300 character-limit. If that feels restrictive, articles, give you freedom to sing to your heart’s content.

All singers sing, but no two sound exactly alike. It’s those individual differences in vocal style, qualities, & interpretation that still allows cover songs to be a thing.

However, the real magic happens when a singer sings an original in the way only s/he can.

What songs do you have within you that the world (or LinkedIn) needs to hear?

“If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.”

~Zimbabwean proverb