Why You Should Be Using LinkedIn Instead of Doom Scrolling
Written by: Jason Walke
“Good Afternoon, class. I have a special treat for you today. Our small private school, located in a small town of 600 residents in rural Indiana, is going international. Today, we will be visited virtually by a gentleman living in the Netherlands who has spoken to numerous Fortune 500 company executive teams, does contract work with Under Armour and created his own brand offering classes and resources on the very topic we are going to learn about.” It was amazing having such a guest join our classroom virtually, and it could not have happened without the power of LinkedIn. I encourage all educators to be active on LinkedIn. The connections you can make and the conversations you can have could be game changers for what you are doing as an educator. I made it a priority about three years ago to be more active on LinkedIn. I have had an account for a while, but never spent much time on it. I treated it like any other social media and followed family, friends and celebrities or major organizations. However, after learning a little more about the power of LinkedIn, I decided to make a change. I started searching and connecting with people who are in similar roles to mine or who would be part of an ecosystem that supports my goals and ambitions as an educator.
“I started searching and connecting with people who are in similar roles to mine or who would be part of an ecosystem that supports my goals and ambitions as an educator.”
As I started connecting with like-minded people, I started seeing posts about educators doing things that I dreamed of, but never knew how to take the first steps. I started reaching out to these people, and they were happy to share their stories. I started building a new map of how my educational philosophy looked and what I wanted out of myself with my position. I started finding and meeting local guest speakers to come into my classroom, and the students loved these experiences. I started to expand this and thought, why not have virtual visits as well? This led to a conversation with a fellow educator I was connected with, living in Kansas, who recommended I talk to this person in the Netherlands. I was trying to find a way to get my older high school students to tap into their creative juices. I noticed that many of my students are GPA-minded. They care about doing what is needed to get the “A” and move on. They have lost their ability to be creative. They wanted me to be creative for them, and I felt this was a problem, especially for an entrepreneurship class where my main focus is helping students learn to see problems as opportunities. I reached out to the recommended person and shared my story as well as how I learned about him. He was excited at the opportunity to talk with a classroom of high school students in rural Indiana.
When the day came for his virtual visit, it was amazing. He did an interactive presentation that kept students engaged and put together the best slides presentation any of us have ever seen. His stories and strategies stuck with my students, and they talked about that particular day throughout the rest of the school year.
Another experience I had was for my business operations class. I was able to connect with a person on LinkedIn who had a great story. He worked his way up with Nike, and he worked with NBA superstars to sign them with Nike. He helped superstars start building their own shoe brands and created his own business to help others working in the sports industry. I had to hear his story. Through reaching out and hearing his story and me sharing my story and plans for my class, he wanted to be a part of it. This led to another virtual visit where he talked about grit, perseverance, and the realization of how much you want something correlates with how much you are willing to work for it. The students were amazed by his story and felt ready to go fight for their own dreams and ambitions
“The students were amazed by his story and felt ready to go fight for their own dreams and ambitions.”
Having these guest speakers also created insights and learning for students that I didn’t realize. One of our virtual speakers talked about his struggles with undiagnosed ADHD and how he has overcome that throughout his career. I had a parent reach out after this visit talking about how their child in my class really grasped onto that talking point, as he feels the same way going through school, and even wondering what life after school will look like. He was excited to see the success this person had while dealing with his own ADHD symptoms.
The power of LinkedIn connections has been an unexpected blessing. As I made these connections, I started sharing and posting on LinkedIn more myself, and would comment on other posts more often as well. This has led to more people seeing me and reaching out to connect. This resulted in participating in a couple of podcasts and being asked to speak at a convention. I never would have seen myself in these circumstances and potential experiences, but it has been amazing. If you are on LinkedIn, please reach out to connect. If you are not on LinkedIn, I encourage you to create a profile and join. With proper use, you may never know the impact it could have on you.
Let’s Connect! My LinkedIn handle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-walke-1983oa/
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