Former NYC mayor Ed Koch sought relevance in his latter years to stay in the news. He was larger than life even as he shrunk physically and aged away. He remained himself.
We all seek to be relevant in our fields, at all stages of our careers.
That takes work and a following of admirers and colleagues.
You earn both. Yet they can disappear more quickly than you add them if you do not nurture them.
How? By consistently providing your brand of material and commentary to others, at high quality in each installment. Frequently (not too much, not too little). You work hard (!) to deliver your voice to reinforce your ethic and POV in multiple ways on multiple media.
On LinkedIn:
- A “like” is not very meaningful, although sometimes sufficient in certain cases. Do not rely on the default atta-boy/-girl language. Add a sentence to personalize the greeting.
- Go deeper than copying seemingly meaningful quotes by the Dali Lama or Gandhi or Mandela and plopping them on your shared update. Anyone can do that.
- Be more giving than copy-pasting a URL of an article you read. You must give a line or two of why this article is worth reading. You are curating material, offering a gift of quality.
- Contain the inner need to go on a political or religious rant about current events that will alienate some and leave others agape.
- Defer posting a number puzzle or word game that will amaze your friends and impress other with you intellectual prowess to another social media platform.
Be real. Be yourself. Curate and opine. Contribute and stay in the game. Be relevant.
