I love this video titled “Subway Love” by Max Stossel about misplaced attention and the missed opportunities that pass us by each day because we’re focused on the wrong things.
How often do we miss an opportunity for a human connection because we are fixated on an arriving train or a screen?
I’m pretty sure I do it all the time. It’s almost as if we have forgotten how to be human and connect to people in meaningful ways.
Image credit: Pixabay
Why is accepting a connection request on LinkedIn such an involved process? Every time I accept a connection request I have to go through 2-3 pages of people I know and may want to inundate with connection requests! So much for deliberate connections. It seems to be all about spamming people and artificially expanding connections.
I feel like I use LinkedIn begrudgingly these days. It is where business people tend to want to connect but groups and other fora seem to have become opportunities to spam everyone with some or other deal. It all seems to be a lot of LinkedIn spam. It reminds me of Benjamin Smith’s post on the Observer last week:
Here’s Why I Don’t Write on LinkedIn and Why You Shouldn’t Either https://t.co/m6rJT7DQMF
— Ben Smith (@Benjaminsmith) December 9, 2015
I’m sure there is still much value in LinkedIn but my experience of it is increasingly negative. I basically use it because I may trip over the value one day and unearth the sparkling opportunities concealed under the muck.
I enjoy connecting people who may be able to do even more exciting/lucrative stuff together or because they connected, shared ideas and went off and cultivated them. One of the things I tend to wind up doing most of the time when I speak to people is refer them to other skilled people they need to do stuff. It isn’t what I do for a living or even something I charge for.
I think I have a decent network of really great and skilled people who I have met and enjoy dealing with and I’d like to expand that network because the day will come when I will meet someone who needs someone I know and I want to be able to connect them.
So … getting to the point, I would like to connect with more interesting and skilled people. If you know me and you want to be on my list of people I could refer other people to, connect to me on and I’ll help where I can.
This only really works if you have a complete profile and even then it works really well if you are connected to someone I know and trust. It is all about word of mouth and all that so while it is great to meet new people this way, if we haven’t connected before or if we don’t share trusted contacts, you may want to drop me a line and say hi, tell me about yourself.
On the other hand, if this all sounds very nutty to you, that’s ok. I am curious to see if this works out myself. If it does then that is great because you could be the next person I connect with someone else I know (no promises to connect you with anyone or send you any work, just saying I’ll keep you in mind when I need someone with your skills).
Updated on 2016-03-06 to change the contact method to my contact form
Now and then I know people who want to meet people. I enjoy connecting people (authentically) so I thought I'd offer to help.
