Keep your powder dry

Of social media and other diseases

I noticed on LinkedIn that you just were named to a major promotion. Wow, you’re newly a C-level executive for a major brand that’s known and respected worldwide. 

It’s fun to think back on our shared starts, all those years ago. Congratulations!

Your LinkedIn profile showcases your professional achievements. But your Twitter account reveals a different story — partisan rants, venomous and unproductive thoughts. (Too many to count.)

What’s clear there isn’t the brilliant thinking of a creative leader (which you are), but anger. Instead of presenting insights, your posts reflect an incremental lunacy that is evidence, freely given by you, that you appear to be just one of a zillion social-media crackpots.

We live in a competitive, persuasion-driven society. Some of us however, are so busy burying ourselves in narcissistic “personal brand-building” efforts, that we miss what we truly look like. 

It has become commonplace to display impulsiveness and poor judgment in digital spaces that reach around the world in seconds. Where you might imagine charisma or conviction, others see immaturity and instability.

In the workplace, it’s disheartening to encounter otherwise vibrant and capable personalities who cannot separate the personal from the professional, who feel compelled to weigh in on everything.

This is where Twitter becomes a resignation letter, issued one post at a time. Why do this if your online presence doesn’t strengthen your professional standing? It’s unpleasant to see people I respect share partisan, often unfounded content or make blanket generalizations that many others find to be a massive turnoff — and would never reciprocate.

Thing is, this country is not Twitter. It’s not even close. And social media encourages reactions far more than thoughtful content.

Discerning minds retreat from this online chaos. Simultaneously comes the rise of “Instagram Me,” an utterly contrived persona — and there’s also, “Keyboard Hero.” And that would be the “You” that you are playing online. 

In reviewing your posts over many years, I see endless capacity to react emotionally to topics unrelated to your expertise or many of the qualities that earned your success. (Sadly, you are not alone. Clearly, your bosses have no problem with it.)

Many otherwise intelligent people allow virtue signaling to run their lives. The empowered social “shouters” disown and ghost anyone expressing other viewpoints. All of this results in a huge cycle of negativity benefiting no one. Least of all, you.

You and I worked together many years ago, and it was great. I applaud your news. Sincere ‘Congrats!’ if you’re reading this. And I was reaching for my pen to send you a note. But your digital commentary gives me pause.

You are shutting doors. Many of which you’ll never even know were open to you in the first place. Old friends, potential collaborators, new opportunities, partnerships and professional relationships are being foreclosed by your online choices.

The executive who rants about politics at 2 a.m. is the same person presenting at 9 a.m. Your audience doesn’t separate these versions of you. Rightfully they only see you as one person, making choices about what dominates your attention and energy.

You made a business decision to become a keyboard tough guy, an online hero. These decisions have consequences, one of which is — I’m out. And that’s the polite version.

You made it this far, which is awesome. Here’s to a future where your words match your achievements.