The Books That Have Defined And Shaped The #LinkedInLocal Movement

This article is 18 months in the making. Ever since the #LinkedInLocal movement went viral, I have tried to deeply understand how and why this idea continues to be so popular. Why LinkedIn, why now, and why me? From all corners of the globe there continues to be an outpouring of enthusiasm, of collaboration, of community creators and builders, to come together and create a movement of immense value. When this began I saw potential but I didn't envision the great wave that it is, it simply seemed like a good idea in my local area. Its testament to the power of LinkedIn and its use as a medium to spread global ideas.

For those that are not familiar with #LinkedInLocal, it is a community driven initiative by LinkedIn users, in no way affiliated with LinkedIn. We are a passionate community of hosts wanting to take our online connections offline and come together for meaningful interactions, and to truly get to know the people behind the LinkedIn profiles. At the time of writing, we find ourselves in 500 cities, in 83 countries and growing at a rate of 10-15 cities per week. The growth and experience has been summed up so well in this infographic by Brian Wallace and his team at NowSourcing.

So in the interest of putting digital pen to paper and to deepen my own knowledge of what has been happening globally, to truly understand why the timing of this was so important, and how we as individuals can be better humans as part of a truly authentic movement, I began researching and reading, something in recent years I haven't made a lot of time for. The following list comes from conversations with our host community, from the recommendations my LinkedIn connections have fed back to me through their experience. To these people I am truly grateful, as these books have helped me understand and shape the growing movement that is #LinkedInLocal.

Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, by Seth Godin

I actually read Tribes 6 months before the #LinkedInLocal movement began but its ideas have significantly shaped my thoughts not on #LinkedInLocal but LinkedIn itself. For many of us this online community has helped us find a supportive environment to share ideas, grow and learn. #LinkedInLocal was simply an idea to bring this community face to face. Tribes was the single biggest revelation to me about the value of community, and its leaders. In Seth's words, “A movement is defined as having three elements: (1) A narrative that tells a story about who we are and the future we're trying to build. (2) A connection between and among the leader and the tribe. (3) Something to do - the fewer limits the better. Too often organizations fail to do anything but the third.”

#LinkedInLocal is a true "tribe" as described by Seth, and has been built in a very small space of time on a huge global scale. The movement itself is self-perpetuating as any tribe should be. The more people we can inspire to embody the values and share these, the more the movement grows. #LinkedInLocal has been built on stories, there is a big connection to its leaders, it creates leaders themselves that people continue to connect with and is therefore self-fulfilling, and has few limits beyond the core values. The core values of collaboration, pitch-free, and not for profit have kept the movement on path, but its lack of strict limits beyond that have allowed for so many meaningful discussions, such as making a living giving, mental health, youth events, working mothers, #metoo in the workplace, and the charity partnerships.

The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea, by Bob Burg and John David Mann

The Go-Giver, recommended to me by Ray Jamieson who is a part of a networking group based on the book's principles, provides a blue-print for giving in order to build valuable relationships and grow business networks. Its a tiny book with big heart, and story-telling at its core. For me this read was significant because it gave me permission to just give. I had previously come from an industry full of takers and "taking" is inherent in many of our society's practices. I read this book only a few months after #LinkedInLocal started and it helped form the premise that truly valuable ideas are formed by those who have a passion for giving rather than taking. People skills are about authenticity and building relationships comes down to one thing, being yourself. Those that give will get.

The Village Effect, by Susan Pinker

Susan Pinker's book, recommended to me by Tofe Evans, dives deep into face-to-face connection and why it is central to any community. It should be a bible to any digitally connected human. Susan talks about the village effect and why even in a digital world it is so important to build our own "villages" to support us. We depend on human interaction (face to face) from a very young age and throughout our entire lives, on the flip side social isolation is damaging to health, education and business. This village effect is central to the success of #LinkedInLocal, not just because its so central to humans, but also needed now due to the vast increase in time spent online, the nature of work and remote workforces. As humans we need to find the balance between an increased need for privacy, and shutting ourselves off from the world. Human interaction though must be meaningful and when we recognise this we need to picture what our own ideal in-person villages look like. We must then seek to find, or create them. #LinkedInLocal is just one form of village I know many humans globally have found a sense of belonging in.

Give and Take: Whey Helping Others Drives Our Success, by Adam Grant

Often recommended by LinkedIn users, and to me by Alexandra Galviz, I resisted reading this book for a few months on the false premise that it might take a similar approach to the Go-Giver. Because our workforce is so inter-connected and based on providing service to others, understanding why giving breeds success and taking doesn't, and how matchers in the middle behave, is important to any community or workplace. I've always maintained that the #LinkedInLocal hosts are made up of a tribe of "givers," those that want to bring true meaningful values to their local communities, and how this continues to inspire others. Grant's book really hit home to me that the giving nature of how this community has been built encourages others by the example set by founders, mentors and other hosts. Its one of the reasons we have mentors, not only for understanding but in order to create a giving environment, which in turn encourages minimal deviation from the values, and perpetrates a true value-add by inspiring a leader to give to their own community, and create events of value.

Whenever in the past I have been asked the question by a new host, "what's in it for me?" I've realised the have completely understood the concept. As Grant states, "takers build networks and try to claim as much value as possible for themselves from a fixed pie. When givers build networks they expand the pie so that everyone can get a larger slice." With #LinkedInLocal we are expanding the pie, or building a bigger table as I have always described it. Real communities do this, and of course thrive as a result.

I am also so grateful to Grant for this book because when I did finally read it not only did it fully help me understand giving but also how to recognise takers. Believe me, I've seen some fine examples of "taking" when it comes to #LinkedInLocal, those simply in it for opportunity and gain only with no thought to giving or adding value, and Adam's book has helped me better recognise and better manage these people. It also helped me identify personally giver-burnout, something I have experienced several times along the way and its helped me factor this understanding into more focussed community management.

The Story-Teller's Secret: How TEDx Speakers and Inspirational Leaders Turn Their Passion Into Performance, by Carmine Gallo

I chanced upon Carmine Gallo's gem of a book in an airport bookstore, an example of not finding books, but books somehow finding you at the right time. Stories have power, we're all aware of this, and Carmine's book about the secret to the success of the biggest companies and movement's in the world is in the power of their stories. Great stories have the potential to grow businesses, find emerging leaders, and of course to create movements. Learning to craft stories are one of the single biggest assets to humans. Stories bring purpose to life and authentic stories connect people in a meaningful way. We've always encourage sharing stories at events, sharing them online afterwards, and re-telling those inspiring stories of others in order to create community. One of the best medium's for storytelling is video and, as I have written before, there was no co-incidence between the release of native video on LinkedIn and the success of #LinkedInLocal. Video allowed us to tell better and more engaging stories. Our events are focussed on adding value, on storytelling, on sharing ideas, and post-event we share stories of who we met, collaborations formed, ideas shared, opportunities gained, and the value in the local communities we are building. Yes its that simple.

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, by Keith Ferrazzi

This is a truly important book for anyone wanting to know how to build sustainable relationships, help others, grow your network and build influence online. Originally published in 2005, I had an eerie feeling whilst reading that the founders of LinkedIn may have been influenced by this book and almost shaped the platform to support what this book re-iterates. The book has since been updated for the digital reader. It discusses creating community, and how this is a significant way to create social capital (inherent to #LinkedInLocal, and the key to why its a self-perpetuating movement). To be successful Keith argues, we must build a "life-long community of colleagues, contacts, friends, and mentors", and he actually tells you HOW. "True communities create intimate supportive relationships that spur collaboration while deeply satisfying our human need for connecting, belonging and meaning." Amen. If LinkedIn were a cake, #LinkedInLocal is the icing on top. #LinkedInLocal enriches the online LinkedIn community. A huge thanks to Daleep Chhabria for the recommendation (and the reminder when we did finally meet in London in person).

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Big Magic takes a the premise that we as humans are all creative, and I thank Catherine Daar for the recommendation. Creativity is not just creative pursuits such as writing or painting, but innovative thinking and the notion that the sharing of ideas and collaboration is what makes humanity thrive. This is what we should have as a goal to achieve with our local communities and their events, a means to explore curiosity and innovation. There was also one very crucial point that Gilbert made that struck me as poignant; that there are ideas floating around looking for the right human collaborator. For me this is poignant because I have lost count of the number of times people have said to me in conversation, "I had this idea", or "I've tried this before." The idea behind #LinkedInLocal - online to offline, or LinkedIn meetups - was not new. It existed before in many formats and in many names. Truthfully though, I believe the current incarnation under the name #LinkedInLocal has been so successful as it was simply founded and shared by the right human collaborators with the energy to put behind it, and inspired the right human collaborators as the first hosts, and so forth, and the movement spread. For me personally, I can say that it ignited something in me where passion, commitment, and purpose aligned, and my dots connected.

Big Potential: Five Secrets to Reaching Higher by Powering Those Around You, by Shawn Achor

Saving the best for last, Big Potential, recommended by Laura Strausberg, holds the key to my bigger vision for #LinkedInLocal, that together in collaborative world where we empower those around us we truly can achieve more. By pursuing success in isolation - pushing others aside as we push ourselves to achievement and the top of a superficial ladder - we are not just limiting our potential, we are becoming more stressed and disconnected than ever. Success and happiness are not competitive sports.

The book has had so much impact on me that I actually bought a copy for my team for Christmas (and Shawn's children's book Ripple's Effect for my kids). This book I believe has the power to change the way humanity sees itself, how we deal with competition, and how we can evolve better to begin to support and collaborate with one another for a better world.

"Achieving our highest potential is not about survival of the fittest, but survival of the best fit. Success is not just about how creative or how smart or how driven you are, but how well you are able to connect with, contribute to and benefit from the ecosystem of people around you." The strongest #LinkedInLocal groups enable people to do this, and will it create a long-lasting village effect in many LinkedIn users.

In Conclusion

2018 has been an extremely busy year for me and this list was all I had time for. I hope to add to this list in time, perhaps with a part 2 and even a part 3 as this movement continues to grow. I'd love to hear what books have impacted your thoughts on #LinkedInLocal and all recommendations are welcome for any ideas as to how we, the LinkedIn community, can assess and shape what has become a truly inspiring movement of volunteers from all pockets of the globe.

If you're not a reader but simply want the Netflix, sci-fi version of human connection, then go and devour Sense8, the closest idea to a collective human consciousness on screen.

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To find out more about #LinkedInLocal, to find events and become a host please visit www.linkednlocal.com and check out the latest infographic.