I Don't Trust LinkedIn

I was scrolling down my LinkedIn timeline when I ran into a post that was liked by someone I follow on LinkedIn. This post to be exact. It’s essentially the Founder and CEO of Legends Barber reminiscing about how he started his business 11 years ago and the humble beginnings of it all. Attached to the post was a picture of that first barbershop that began the journey all those years ago.

That was a very interesting post for me. I didn’t know that Legends Barber had a CEO. I guess, obviously, it’s a company, and thus by definition had to have at least one founder and would currently have a Chief Executive leading it. I just hadn’t thought about it, in the same way that most of us don’t think about the fact that our parents were children at some point. The idea that my parents weren’t born adults sends a chill down my spine like no other. I can’t imagine the kind of adolescent shenanigans my mother and father got up to in their youth, before they met each other or even had my sister and me.

Nevertheless, I digress. Back to LinkedIn...

I saw this post and was instantly intrigued by it. He didn’t seem like the typical professional CEO types you see on LinkedIn. He seemed to have had humble beginnings and a dream that he fought hard to bring into reality. I instantly wanted to know what he was thinking, what books he’d been reading, what he’s curious about these days, what he predicts the future will be like, and ten thousand other things that CEOs may or may not ponder. But when I clicked on his profile, I instantly remembered that I was still on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has a very strange culture. It is, by definition, a platform that requires you to put your best foot forward, because if you don’t, then your professional future may be in jeopardy. There’s this push to be the most novel thinker and the most influential influencer, all while giving the appearance of authenticity. There’s this push to be non-conforming, which ironically just means that a lot of LinkedIn influencers end up sounding exactly the same.

I have nothing against him personally. I didn’t even really read his posts. And I understand the importance of having a squeaky clean reputation, especially as the lead executive of a public-facing company. But the nature of LinkedIn and the implicit rules of engagement it sets make it impossible for me to trust what anyone with a significant following says.

I want to sit at the feet of top-performing leaders in multiple industries and hear what ideas they cling to, and what ideas they consider stupid. I want to see what books they’re reading and what they actually think about them, where they agree or disagree with the authors. I want their unfiltered lessons about how to deal with employees, how to make hard decisions, and how to build an enduring company. I want to read their thoughts and thumb through their regrets and figure out what they wish they’d done differently. Do they wish they’d spent more time on their marriage? With their kids? Taking care of their health? I want to hear it all.

I want unfiltered thoughts and ideas. I wish they had blogs. All of them. Or at least wrote a Substack. I just don’t trust LinkedIn, and I don’t know where else to find the unfiltered thoughts of top South African executives.

One day I will be a CEO. There’s no way of telling how successful I’ll be, but I want to give it a shot regardless. I wish modern CEOs kept a blog they updated from time to time. So I think I want to keep my own. Maybe one day in the future, some kid will want to know what I’m thinking about, and they’ll have the answer. Worst case scenario, I slowly build up a time capsule detailing the texture of my mind as I age and become more and more successful. Either way, I want to keep this blog updated with things I’ve been pondering.

Watch the space.
Or not. It’s always best to lower your expectations when it comes to me.

Anyway. See you space cowboy.

— Ntsako