At some point, we were looking to add people to LinkedIn. We wanted to appear “connected.” And then we reached the golden number on LinkedIn 500+ and the numbers no longer mattered. (Hint: they don’t matter unless you’re in the single or double digits.)
Then something else happened. Contacts came out of the cloud to join our networks. HR people. Social Media Experts from India. Sales Navigator was born. Spam became a way of life on the jobsite: LinkedIn. Way-past contacts. The networking was good, right? We’ve all reached the coasting period of our careers, right? Not exactly.
Yesterday at a business meeting a client said, “You know Dave, he’s connected to you on LinkedIn.”
I felt a tad bit exposed. This was MY network. This is what I do. Social media, social networks, connecting, business development, content. And Dave? I had no idea who he was talking about.
So this morning I went through the purge with these criteria:
- Have we shared a cup of coffee or at least talked on the phone?
- Could I voice a recommendation about this person?
- Did their name or picture bring a smile to my face?
- Could I imagine them giving me a less-than-stellar recommendation?
It’s easy to do, to pick up random connections to your network. Again, back in the day, we were in a gold rush mentality. Any connection was growth in our network. Not today.
As you go through this exercise of strengthening your network by culling the zeros, do two things:
- reach out to those people you loved working with – not for a lead, just to say hello, catchup
- pay attention to the people you’ve been connected with the longest – celebrate them as well.
This is my ^^ deep bench. People I would love to work with in the future. People I will give leads, referrals, and hot prospects to. How does your deep bench look?
Today, in my work and career things are a bit different. When my friend asked about our “mutual connection” he was excited to ask about this person I supposedly knew. I didn’t. I told him I didn’t and the conversation we were about to have died. It was a minor blip. But one I took notice of.
When the “Join My Network” email arrived early this morning about some vague constructed connection or some “group” we shared… Today, I went on a top-to-bottom connection cleaning mission. And LinkedIn doesn’t make it all that easy to DISCONNECT.
For me, today, LinkedIn is no longer about the NUMBER of CONNECTIONS, but the QUALITY of CONNECTIONS. And I think this is the case in business networking in general. It’s fine that Micheal Dell is in my LinkedIn network, but my messages to him would be filtered long before they ever reached him. He does have 1.8 million followers, so there’s that opportunity. And for Michael Dell and me, today, that’s okay, he’s staying in my Network. But everyone else must be someone I could reach out to
- for advice,
- for a project needing their expertise, or
- for a reference check on someone my group wanted to hire.
That’s what social networking is about today. It’s partly about who you know, but it’s more about “how well do you know them?” And Microsoft effectively killed LinkedIn several years ago when they bought it. At least they did good with Minecraft.
Every day, we are selling. Selling our skills and the skills of our close associates. Every day everyone else in the business world is doing the same thing. So if some yahoo in Wazoo MI. claims me as a connection, in some small way, my connection gives them an endorsement.
Unless I know and trust them, I’m NOT accepting your connection request.
LinkedIn is the best we’ve got. And at 400m active accounts, it’s the network of trust that we need to pay attention to and strengthen at every opportunity.
I’d love to have a DEEP TRUST NETWORK, or as a friend likes to call it, A 100% Proof Network. Until then, we’ve got LinkedIn. And you might want to make sure you’re still comfortable endorsing, even passively, all the people in your LinkedIn Network.
Keep It Social Out There!(tm)
The ideas in this post are continued in another article about valued connections:
Defining Your 100-proof Network.
John McElhenney — let’s connect online
@jmacofearth & Facebook & LinkedIn & The Whole Parent
Please check out some of my books on AMAZON.
