Why Would You Follow Me?

I have a fantastic network and get a fantastic amount of information, knowledge, challenge and ideas from this valuable tool. For me I try to link to people and follow people I believe may contribute to me and my network and add value to the areas of interest I have. I understand very well that I may never ever get even close to knowing it all, let alone as much as I would like, but with the benefit of a large network containing many industry sectors, cultures, roles, specialisms, experiences and competences I am lucky enough to be able to get so much more than I could otherwise have access to.

 A question I am often asked is "how do you get so many followers and have such a vast network of professional people?" It’s a regular question now and I now call it “the size question”.

To be honest I don’t think I have any special secret or technique and I don’t think I do anything extraordinary ( This probably does not help people). So I try to explain to these individuals that I don’t have a magic secrete or approach, and all I do is be me and try to be as value adding as I can and share as much knowledge, experience, opinions, perspective and ideas as I think may of benefit and interest and hope that some people ask to connect to me like I ask to connect to those I have done to grow my network.

I have been on LinkedIn since the very early days of its existence and did not really comment, share, post and do the really valuable interactive bits until a little later when I found a voice and confidence to actually put across something from me. For me it was an online profile and search tool for the most part up until this point. From my first interaction I noticed how I got views, requests and comments back and it clicked that I could get so much more from this tool and started my trying to grow my network, knowledge and confidence in posting.

  I’m not a particularly articulate person, not really academically gifted and struggle with numbers and words at times. I can see what I am trying to achieve in my head with respect to the math or the crammer and literacy but am unable to deliver it on paper or express in words what I am trying to get across. Therefore I tend to write as I think sometimes when passionate and miss words, grammar etc as to me I cannot identify the areas that are not correct at this point and I often post something that is not quite right.

 With this in mind I do use spell check, but it does not always pick up everything, like wrong words in sentences spelt correctly, missing grammar, wrong punctuation and words highlighted as wrong that you then choose the wrong option for its alternative as you think the option given must be the word, when actually the spelling that I have provided is so far out that it’s given me the word it feels is closest match!

 For me when I decided to post it was quite a big deal, I did not want to be ridiculed, have a perception of my intelligence formed and get ridiculed for the writing, not for the content but for the way it was put across. As I am a very passionate and committed professional sometimes this comes across in the way I write and the way in which it flows and reads to people, but despite all of this I decided that I must write, share, comment and engage using this tool to create a network of value and meaning for me and subsequently my network.

 The standards I established for myself was:

• Be me and don’t try to be anything I am not.
• Be honest and open.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
• Don’t be afraid to say what I don’t know.
• Don’t be afraid to share what I feel is important.
• Don’t be afraid if you don’t please everyone.
• Don’t be afraid to express your opinion, also don’t be afraid to listen to others and change if you discover something new.
• Try to inspire others in as many ways as possible and create debate.
• Try and use my network to help others.
• Learn as much as I can from my network.
• Don’t be afraid to be who I am and make mistakes and to be wrong as well as right and something in the middle.
• Do the right thing.
• Demonstrate integrity.
• Make some friends.
• Set an amount of time dedicated each day trying to do this
• Just Be ME!

 To tell the truth I had no ideas around what would interest people about things I had to share, comments I had to make and posts I had to write but I figured that if people liked then great, if not then what have I really lost? Not everyone agrees with everything and everyone on here and the debates sparked will always add value. If I can network with the likeminded people on here through this way then all the better.

 I encourage people on here and in my network to use it to their potential; so much knowledge is out there to connect to, so many ideas to share and so much debate to be had. It’s so valuable in getting the input into your daily role and the things that you are thinking of doing from such a vast perspective. The benefits I have got through using LinkedIn over the years have been very useful and have added so much to my thinking, perceptions and objectives.

 I took too long to find my voice and confidence to engage with this fantastic people tool, and I could see the benefits quite clearly. Don’t be like me. Use this and don’t be afraid to engage with the audience to expand your network, knowledge and understanding. I mean it’s free and there is so much priceless stuff on here if you look and take time and effort to get what you want out of it.

 LinkedIn is not perfect, but as I have found out in life, nobody or nothing ever is.

 So the point is I understand what I follow and network with people for and what I am trying to achieve by doing this, but what value do I add to you, and why do you choose to follow me? I would be grateful to understand the answers that you give to me around this question as maybe then I can give a better answer to those who ask “the size question”.

 As always I hope this post has helped some people, encouraged some people and creates a debate that adds value.

Thanks for reading

Wayne