My final guest for the year was The Honorable Victor Dominello – Former NSW Minister for Digital Government, board member for the Tech Council of Australia, and chair of Minister Gallagher’s Digital Identity Panel, and Minister Shorten’s myGov Advisory Group. And now the Co-Founder of digital transformation partner ServiceGen, that helps governments build citizen trust through service excellence.
Needless to say, having followed Victor for years now as an exemplar among all leaders on LinkedIn regardless of sector, it was wonderful to sit across the table and hear his story first-hand. Particularly, to learn a few things that surprised me about his early attitudes towards social media and the deep, rich value he now gets from his “LinkedIn tribe,” as he calls it. It’s episode number 40 in the Your Digital Reputation catalogue, so if you’re keen to hear Victor’s views on social media for leaders, please go back and have a listen.
In this practical episode, I wanted to dive deeper into what Victor was essentially sharing as the key ingredients for a successful LinkedIn presence. If you’ve listened to his episode already, you may have thought ‘It sounds so simple.’ And it is – it really is.
WE make it complicated – and I include myself in that, too. Just ask Gem – my wife – based on the conversations we have about LinkedIn… We make it COMPLICATED. We make it HARDER than it needs to be. We pile LAYERS and LAYERS of red tape, checks and approvals on things. And we don’t need to.
So, in this practical episode – our last for the year – I’m going to tap into Victor’s advice and experience with you, and pull out the three key ingredients every leader needs for a successful LinkedIn presence. And no – there is no 20-page policy in sight. Let’s get straight into it.
You do you - take off the mask.
Just be yourself. Or ‘You do you’ as Victor said. Don’t be influenced by what others think, say or do when it comes to your LinkedIn profile – you do you. In all areas.
Whether that’s deciding on your purpose for using LinkedIn. Don’t worry if others seem to be chasing the popular vote. You do you.
Whether that’s working out your voice and tone when using LinkedIn. Don’t worry if others appear overly emotive or provocative and that’s not your style. You do you.
Whether that’s deciding on your rhythms for LinkedIn. Don’t worry if others seem to be posting every single day and you can’t find the time. Or if they seem to get lots of surface level engagement every time they post which makes you question your own efforts. You do you.
Whether that’s finding the content format that feels best for you. Don’t worry if you don’t feel as comfortable in front of a camera as other leaders. You do you.
Whether that’s trying to create the perfect post every single time. Don’t worry if others seem to balance perfect paragraph breaks with emojis and hashtags and @ tags and images – who cares! You do you.
As Victor said: “It’s really hard to put on a mask. It’s really hard work. So the best thing to do is be you.” In his case, that means talking about his mum. It means using dashes in his posts. It means talking about the Dark Knight and his Batman cufflinks incessantly. Because that’s who he is – no mask.
If you’re a leader listening to this, what can you do to put this first ingredient into practice yourself? My advice is to spend time with yourself, AND spend time listening to others online. What does that mean?
It means thinking of your own answers to these questions:
- What kind of leader are you? What do you stand for?
- What do you WANT people to know about you?
- Do they get a sense of these things by looking at your LinkedIn profile TODAY? If not, why not – what’s holding you back?
Then spend time listening, monitoring what your peers do online – people you know and respect – to observe how they interact with others. Or tune into one of the 40+ leaders we’ve already had on this podcast to learn from their story. Wondering how board members can use social media safely? Check out what Shirley Chowdhary or David Maywald have to say on the topic. Wondering how best to create a purposeful, authentic online presence? Check out Deb Jenkins and Mike Kaiser. Want to hear how other CEOs draw on their passions to tell engaging stories? Try Amanda Yeates or Doug Taylor.
There are some really helpful examples to learn from out there but – remember – YOU DO YOU.
You will always be busy - it’s your obligation as a leader to make time.
This is the comment from Victor that really surprised me. He was a “reluctant participant” back in the day. This figure who is held up as a best practice example of a leader building community, listening for ideas, solving problems in the public view – all these things. Even HE didn’t see the value initially.
But – at the persistence of his team, it must be said – while he wasn’t convinced on its value initially, what he DID do was take the time to “start dabbling with it”, as he says. He recognised the importance of at least checking it out for himself to learn if there was or wasn’t any value to be gained.
And just imagine how different things would be today for Victor if he hadn’t committed that time? If, in amongst everything going on in his life and work, he had put LinkedIn in the too hard basket.
All those benefits? Lost.
The connection to community? Gone.
The ability to get cut through. The capacity to solve problems better, faster via a global network of incredibly intelligent people – nope. Let alone his own profile and influence across industry. I kid you not – the amount of people who I’ve spoken with about Victor who;
1) are not super active users of LinkedIn or;
2) even follow politics closely – the amount of those people who’ve said to me they love Victor and what he does online – it’s just remarkable. You can’t deny something is working for him.
And, again, I just think – all these benefits, all the things we’ve come to know and respect Victor for over these past few years. ALL of them would not be here – as they are – if he didn’t take the time to learn about LinkedIn himself. If he didn’t take that first step of giving it a go.
Think about that.
What might YOU be missing out on?
So, if you’re a leader listening to this, what can you do to put this second ingredient into practice straight away?
As with a lot of Victor’s advice, it’s again really simple. Make time to learn.
We all have the same amount of time in our days. How we choose to spend it is our own choice. But if you’re in a position where you need cut through, you need a rich understanding of key audiences, you need to access or attract new partners, investors, candidates, or others, or you need to take control of your narrative in amongst a sea of misinformation. Make time for LinkedIn.
My advice? Two things.
1) Set a meeting with your key adviser or advisers about how you could use LinkedIn more purposefully in 2024. Even 30 or 45 mins to – in a very focused and intentional way – really interrogate the role it might play given your strategic priorities as you start the new year. I will be astonished if nothing valuable comes from that conversation, and it’s a tiny slice of time to unlock a whole wave of benefits, as Victor’s example demonstrates.
2) Ideally after you’ve done the first idea – set 5-10 mins blocks in your calendar, Monday to Friday, to just listen on LinkedIn. Yes – you’ll need some help cleaning up your feed first to ensure the people and content you’re seeing is worth your while. Particularly if you haven’t used LinkedIn properly or in a while. But I do this all the time and am very happy to help you with that so you get value from your feed.
Once that simple refinement process is complete, commit to just 5-10 minutes a day scrolling your feed and seeing what value emerges. Insights from industry or key audiences like staff. Intel and opportunities to start a new commercial relationship with someone. Or perhaps a conversation where you can add value and reinforce your leadership position on issues. For less than an hour a week, it’s a simple way to access all these benefits and build your profile with the over 1 billion professionals who use LinkedIn globally. THAT’S return on effort.
And, if you or your team need a hand getting started – particularly as we end the year and start afresh in 2024 – drop me a note on LinkedIn. The best thing you can do is an audit of your digital reputation and how others perceive you today, whether you’re active or not. It’s a very short, simple and cost-effective process and I’m happy to help. Please feel free to reach out if you need a hand.
You are just a speck in the universe - think ‘we’, not ‘me’ on LinkedIn.
There’s an unfair level of criticism around LinkedIn at present, with mainstream media and some commentators targeting the platform for self-interest. Which seems a bit odd from where I’m sitting, because it’s almost like blaming your smartphone for spam calls…
Every single leader can choose to – or not to – use LinkedIn. In the same way every single leader can choose how they use LinkedIn. Of course they can choose to be a self-interested narcissistic who only turns up to groom their future career prospects and board career. Or – outrageously – they can choose to turn up and be a source of positive influence for those who look up to them based on their stature and influence. I love working with the second group of leaders, and will continue to do my bit to ensure we see more good leadership amplified.
There was a really beautiful moment in my conversation with Victor when it dawned on him just how much value he has gained from his ‘tribe’ on LinkedIn. Not a tribe he felt he was leading, but a tribe he felt a part of. Reading his final speech to parliament where he recognises his ‘speck in the universe status’ and then seeing the gratitude on his face as he talked – with warmth – about his LinkedIn community and how they have been such a valued source of ideas, inspiration and understanding – even company at times – was really something.
These were the main messages I took away from Victor’s comments about his own experience:
First and foremost, it’s not all about you. It’s not ‘me’ but ‘we’ – if you go into LinkedIn with a ‘me’ mindset, solely focused on what you can get out of it, you won’t get much. Even the most followed and engaging Australian political figure on LinkedIn – The Honorable Victor Dominello – recognises he is just a speck in the universe. If he’s focused on giving back as much as getting, and is then reaping the benefits he has, maybe there’s something in that formula of the we vs me mindset for every leader.
It’s also not all about your polished appearance. Victor doesn’t have a fancy SLR camera recording his every move on LinkedIn. He takes selfies with bed hair. He even takes photos on the go. The purpose of his messages is more important than the polish – don’t let yourself get in the way.
You really need to listen and engage. The easiest way to tell if any leader outsources their LinkedIn account is to check their comments. No comments very often means no involvement themselves. But if you don’t listen and engage, you lose the connection that’s needed to reap the real benefits of LinkedIn. It’s like having a gym membership but sending a proxy in your place – you don’t magically get the gains.
And as Victor is SUPER clear on – no matter how senior, credentialled or important the world tells you you are, you are one of the community. You are one of the tribe. If you want people to help you, to back you up, to advocate for you, to take the time to share their views with you – you must equally take the time to support them. Find your tribe, and respect your tribe on LinkedIn and they’ll serve you well.
So – finally – if you’re a leader listening to this, what can you do to put this last ingredient into practice?
Be super clear on why you’re using LinkedIn. Being clear means you can then focus in on the audiences who matter most to you. It means you will be surrounded by people who may not share your exact views – no leader wants an echo chamber – but they will share your values and contribute ideas that enrich your own experience, like Victor’s. It might be the final time I mention it this year, but please do go and download our Purpose Pyramid template to help you work this out quickly and easily. It will completely transform your use of LinkedIn, I promise you! It’s made of three parts, with the first – your Goals – ensuring you have a valuable north star for everything you do on LinkedIn.
But, most importantly when it comes to your tribe or the ‘we’ part of the equation – it helps you not only identify your key audiences BUT WHAT MATTERS TO THEM. And that’s the gold. That’s where you become a valued part of a community, vs a leader who simply broadcasts their views online.
So there it is, folks – our final practical pod for the year, and what a wonderful conversation to finish on. I hope you’ve taken plenty away from Victor’s really simple, practical advice, and that it inspires you to ‘do you’ in 2024.
As always, I’d love to hear your questions or feedback from today’s episode, so do reach out via LinkedIn and we can pick things up from there. In fact, please do shoot me a connection request if you’ve been listening along this year and we’re yet to meet – I’d love to connect and hear what you think.
This is the final episode of the YDR podcast for 2023, but do keep your ears out for some special content over the summer break. I’m told from reliable sources that our podcast is perfect fodder for those awkward Christmas or other festive lunch conversations, and even better in the background if you’re BBQing or soaking up the sunshine at the beach over the break. It’s almost as good as listening to Jim Maxwell on the cricket.
Feel free to drop Roger Christie a note with any thoughts from this conversation. If you want more on all things digital reputation, be sure to subscribe below to the Your Digital Reputation newsletter. Join hundreds of subscribers from around the world already signed up!
