Your LinkedIn Bio Is A Snoozer 🥱 — Here's How To Spice It Up

Ahoy, from The Helm — the go-to resource for thought leadership, social media, and exec comms strategies for business leaders!

This month

•  Getting Started with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads. Everything you want and need to know about leveraging the social media tool.

• Mind the AI Gap. The next wave of MBAs are AI-prepped and ready. Are you?

•  Effective Executive Branding Guide. A strong brand could mean the difference between the C-suite and the unemployment line. Here’s how to build yours.

• I love Seattle. The new Boeing CEO is earning kudos for his decision to stay close to the Boeing plant in Seattle.

Writing A Great LinkedIn Summary (With Examples)

Your summary on LinkedIn is one of your most important pieces of digital real estate that you own and control. In this post we look at how to maximize what is essentially an online elevator pitch. Real-world examples include Kieren O’Brien, co-founder at Shopgenie, who uses approachable language and this bold statement: “kinda like Hubspot, but for auto repair shops,” and Rachel Toback, CEO of SocialProof Security, who calls herself “a hacker” and boils down a ton of info into four short sentences.

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Getting Started With Thought Leadership Ads On LinkedIn

One of the most effective new tools execs are using to amplify their thought leadership is Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn. In this post, we break down what they are, how they can benefit your business and brand, and the best practices for creating these strategic comms.

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Creating Effective Executive Branding: A Guide

Having an exceptional executive brand can pay huge dividends. Just ask Pat Gelsinger, who remains CEO of Intel despite the company’s experiencing its biggest daily drop in decades in August. With his strong personal brand as a visionary leader, the former engineer has managed to keep his head off the chopping block. In this post, we show you how to start and maintain your own bulletproof executive brand.  

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Thought Leadership News Roundup

New 5-day Return-To-Work requirement not working, say Amazon employees. Amazon’s recently announced 5-day return-to-work requirement is not going over well with employees. According to Fortune.com, the results of an anonymous survey created by Amazon employees showed “the average satisfaction rating related to the RTW mandate among survey respondents was 1.4 out of scale up to 5.” One reason for this dissatisfaction may have to do with the attitude demonstrated in corporate communications around the decision. Employees complained of a notable  “lack of data explaining the decision from a company whose leaders often talk up data-backed decision-making.” On the company’s website, CEO Andy Jassy went so far as to take a scolding tone, writing “I’ve previously explained these benefits, but in summary, we’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture …” A better approach for exec comms? Be transparent with your rationale and avoid lecturing team members in favor of consensus building.

Mind the AI gap. Only 15% of current manages use generative AI vs. 40% of MBA students according to a forthcoming study reported on by Harvard Business Review.  The article suggests that leaders need to understand what this new tech is capable of and how to use it if they’re going to keep up with this new generation of employees. The difference could be as stark as how you use a computer (to book flights and look for cool restaurants) and how your mom does (to play casino games). HBR goes on to recommend 4 ways in which organizations should respond, including: communicating how they are incorporating gen AI models; prioritizing applications of gen AI to employee experience starting with the onboarding process; appointing new hires as champions of gen AI-related projects; and updating “required job skills, career paths, and promotion criteria to align with the new AI-first landscape.” Who said AI was a disruptive technology?

Or maybe the new Boing CEO just loves Pike Place Market. New Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg knows he has some, er, much-maligned shoes to fill. (As you may have heard, the company has experienced some difficulties of late.) Formerly of airline communications supplier Rockwell Collins, Ortberg made headlines recently when he announced that he would work out of the company’s Seattle office rather than corporate headquarters in Arlington, VA, “to help restore trust in the company’s commercial aircraft business,” as CNN put it. As drama with Boeing in recent years illustrates, trust — and a CEO who’s able to project an image of trust and truthfulness — is an essential ingredient for business success, regardless of company size or stature. No word on whether Ortberg is a music fan who also wants to be close to the home of Jimi Hendrix, Heart and grunge.

Zuckerberg decides you can’t win in politics. Mark Zuckerberg seems to have come to the conclusion that politics is is better left to Elon Musk. Criticized from both sides despite efforts to remain bipartisan, the Meta head has retreated from past initiatives, like one to ensure safety at voting booths (that initiative became tinder for Republicans). According to the New York Times, the CEO “is declining to engage with Washington except when necessary. In private, he has stopped supporting programs at his philanthropy that could be perceived as partisan, and he has tamped down employee activism at Meta...” For leaders, there may be a larger message here. In a polarized political environment, keeping your head down may actually be the safest bet. This contrasts sharply with the era of the “activist CEO,” which now seems to be receding quickly into the rearview mirror.

Curious How Your Company’s CEO is Doing on LinkedIn?

We specialize in helping executives put their best foot forward.  If you’re curious how your company’s CEO is doing on LinkedIn, share a link to their profile, and we’ll prepare a customized CEO LinkedIn Impact Report Card like this. 

Follow this link to see how your CEO stacks up.

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The Helm is brought to you by CSuite Content, a PR agency dedicated to elevating the voice of bold leaders. CSuite Content specializes in ghostwriting, social media management, branding and strategy for business thought leaders at public and private companies.