I haven’t posted on LI for a couple of weeks, even though for about three years I’ve maintained a posting rhythm designed to keep the algorithm from forgetting me and to ensure it keeps showing my posts to you—I post 1–2 times a week.
I’ve relied heavily on AI this year to help me write posts. Of course, it’s based on texts I’ve already written or on specific input I’ve provided, but… As I’ve been reading posts (both my own and others’), I’ve quietly developed an “AI allergy” due to the recognizably identical posts in the style of: “Leadership is not xxxxx. Leadership is yyyy.” In other words, declarative, slogan-like short sentences that first use a negation and then present some view that is the opposite of that negation. It’s all very poetic and expressive, but we all know there’s a chatbot behind it.
And this, in turn, has raised the question: what’s the point of posts if they’re written by AI, and if the sole purpose is to teach the LinkedIn algorithm (or the next AI) that I’m, after all, “important” to have my thoughts shared on the feeds of a potential audience, feeds that people simply scroll past, just as I scroll past most posts where I can sense the robot’s wording.
This break from LinkedIn was a great opportunity to rethink why I’m on LinkedIn. And it brought me back to my original realization (which predated the AI era) that I’m not here to find new clients and, therefore, to create a strategic LinkedIn posting plan. That isn’t—and must never be—the goal; it’s merely a side effect. I have to admit that for a while, things did go in that direction—I even used a prompt to help me organize a strategic schedule of dates, topics, and formats. In my case, the result of engaging in “strategic sales” is always the same: as soon as I start doing this and organizing my work with the goal of finding clients, my calendar empties of clients, in other words, the effect is ALWAYS the opposite.
But when I share and do things simply because I use my podcast, LinkedIn, articles in the media, and my book(s) as a kind of diary to write down my thoughts, it somehow resonates with people. Even without intending to, it resonates—and that shows in how full my calendar is.
I’ve learned this time and again, only to forget it: as soon as clients start to disappear, it means I’ve started looking for them myself—and that’s the wrong approach for me. When I simply do my own thing and share my thoughts, it resonates with those it’s meant to resonate with, and working with those clients is the most inspiring.
AI is useful, but it also serves to show just how important it is to draw on what comes from within us as human beings and to create a world based on genuine, authentic human connection. Because only then do we speak with those with whom it truly matters for both sides to speak.
P.S. Let this picture serve as a promise to share things from the heart in the future, without polishing them to perfection or striking a pose.
