WARNING: Should This Story Have Been Posted On LinkedIn or Not?

OK - I want to start by saying this is a post dedicated to self-reflection and not judgement, because I am sure we have all been guilty of telling a story about someone else at some stage or another.... without respect or even consent.

You might refer to it as gossip, fun, or ego-driven drama!

But here's the thing about telling stories about other people...

We have a responsibility to not cause harm or to exploit them in the process.

Last Friday, here on #LinkedIn, a screenshot was shared of a rather immature and bullying text thread between an SDR and his past manager.

The text was a few months old and a third party (not the sender or recipient) decided to share those screenshots as a post.

Now I'm OK with the sharing of the text as it was a pretty important message from a leadership perspective (just one of the many images shown here - and one of the tamer ones, at that!!)

The instigator of those texts needs his head read for starters, for being so obviously stupid, mean, insensitive and potentially causing mental/emotional damage to the SDR on so many levels through his attack.

But here's where it gets very dangerous.

The guy who posted this story also posted the name of the guy who wrote and sent the texts.

As I said, I'm OK with the sharing of the text, but I draw the line at sharing the perpetrators name for the sole purpose of publicly shaming them (obviously all names deleted on this post).

Because we all know...

Two Wrongs

Do Not Make A Right

The vitriol that followed in the comments on that author's thread is now going to do even more harm than good.

This sensationalised story - now gone viral on LinkedIn has amped up the dark side of storytelling to the point that this person has become publicly, personally and professionally marginalised.

Yes, for sure! This immature manager has been taught a huge life and career lesson as a result, and not only has his reputation been ruined, but this public shaming could do more than ruin his career, it could potentially tip him over the edge.

And yes, I'm being fairly blunt!

Because anything we post on LinkedIn is potentially a story.. and stories trigger emotion, and because of that...

Stories must be ethical.

What that means is ~ they should not cause hurt or embarrassment to others.

Reading or hearing about an event that happened to someone has nowhere near as much 'pull power' as putting a face to a name and bringing in a character - because there is no drama, no plot twist...

And this is where we need to be very careful...

Rachel Goble, CEO of The Freedom Story raises questions around ethical storytelling and I've paraphrased some of those questions here to self reflect regarding any LinkedIn posts you or I may create in the future:

• Do we have the person’s consent to tell their story, for this purpose and in this medium?
• Whose needs and desires are at the centre of how a story is presented, the person the story is about, the LinkedIn audience or the person who shared the post?
• Who is the protagonist of the story - the person who posted it, the recipient or in this case, the sender of the text?
• Who is empowered, and who is disempowered?
• Are we telling the story in a way that reinforces harmful stereotypes or stigmas about a social issue that could impact mental health?
• What will happen to the person after we tell their story in this way? Could it cause them harm? Are we going to help them become better than they were or are we going to continue to shame them.

We all have the capability to create change in the world and we need more light today than ever before.

To impact change is our privileged responsibility.

And ethical stories are one of the ways we can initiate that change. Whether it be,

• Stories we tell ourselves about others
• Stories we tell others
• Stories we elicit from others
• And stories others tell others about others

What stories will you listen out for or look at differently this week realising the impact stories have on business and life?

As usual,

Be Bold, Brave and Brilliant!

Hero Pic - My camera, Shankill Road, Belfast, UK

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