You might be a CEO or a decision maker – one who has the power to hire. Maybe you are an influencer. Great! But when you receive a message from a member on a social network like LinkedIn, FB or similar asking for a help to recommend him, refer him or consider him for a job you tend to ignore it for obvious reasons. You never bother to respond. That’s a human nature. But ‘Why not…?’ rather than ‘Why should…?’ is the key if you are a true leader.
The moment you hit type board with a ‘Happy to Help’ the whole scenario changes for good. Again, H2H doesn’t mean you are taking him blindly under your wings. It just conveys a strong and encouraging message that ‘you will do whatever you can to help him’.
Remember the catchphrase “No one is ever too busy to send a text or reply. If they are not responding they have chosen to avoid you deliberately. Don’t waste time chasing them”.
Minsky Moments – when your value collapses overnight
Minsky Moment is a sudden major collapse of asset values which is part of the credit cycle or business cycle. Such moments occur because long periods of prosperity and increasing value of investments lead to increasing speculation using borrowed money. Minsky moments similar to a credit cycle happen here too when someone skips the opportunity to write an H2H (Happy to Help) message resulting in the collapse of his own value.
When you ignore a message on a Social Network like LinkedIn or elsewhere the presumptions are
- QUITTING – You are about to quit or actively considering to quit from your current role at the company where you work and you don’t want to reveal or scared to disclose it. Poor messenger’s face gets blanched. Worst case – you could have at least replied him with a ‘NO’ or ‘WAIT’.
- EGO – Your other ego is donning a hat over and above your innate feelings and pushing you to ignore the messenger ruthlessly. Chances are that you simply don’t like ‘him’. Who the heck is this guy? That’s just your feeling and probably without any kind of backing reason. You end up being biased and uncaring as well. Truly unprofessional, I say.
- THREAT– You’ve heard about him. You know that he has a good standing and experience in the industry or area where you are in. You think he has dominant skills and there are chances that he might supersede you in the near future if get hired.You want to get hold of your management seat permanently or some more time. Mind you – your thought is unwarranted. Buffet’s philosophy of hiring his CEO’s and managers who have more talent than him is a case in hand.
- ARROGANT – You are attuned to arrogance. You feel superior to anyone on the street you walk. It’s beyond your high position and so-called dignity to respond to such help messages. You don’t even show the courtesy to refer the HR or your secretary for him to follow up. In other ways, you are not interested to cultivate your company’s ‘Supply’ side of the resources and nurture the ‘Demand’. Remember Jessy Jackson’s famous statement “Never look down on anybody unless you are helping them up”
- CRONYISM – You favor cronyism. You tend to hire only your own people in all positions in the company. You dispell and drive away criticisms. You can’t approve ‘alternative thinking’ or tolerate diverse opinions. You don’t want to hire or promote anyone other than your ‘YES’ sayers. You are always surrounded by such people and they pretend hard to be with you. The company stands to lose in the market with talentless heck.
- FAKE PROFILE – You exhibit a ‘fake’ or ‘not- so- true’ profile in LinkedIn / other social media and claims to have powers unchallenged in the company. The fact is – you are either sidelined or shelved within your company which you don’t realize often. Someone else mantles the decision making power in the company. You are a mere rubber stamp. Poor messenger still hangs on and wait relentlessly for your reply. You are aiding a crime. In fact, you are doing one.
- PUBLIC PLEASER – You only respond to the public posts where someone is asking for a help citing his inability to find a good job. He is openly pleading for an opportunity to work and even mentioning that he’s literally starving after being jobless.You immediately comment with a ‘Please share his/your CV with me” for the heck of it. You want to send a message out to show that you are actually compassionate and want others to ‘See’ or ‘like’ your response. You are feeding your ego. You expect public appreciation. Talented candidates/prospects will not plead for a job under any circumstances, as they always believe in themselves and the value they can provide.
- ENTICER – You are influenced, swayed or enticed by someone in your peer group or common friends not to entertain the messenger for some reason. Again, this is purely subjective.
- COMPETITON – You are his competition. You don’t want your message/feeds to reach them and annoy your board. Fair enough. But who on this earth won’t tactically think the opposite and get connected and not miss the opportunity to find out what his competition is doing? After all, he is from your industry. Who knows he could be a worthy candidate for you in future.
- OLD SCHOOL – You don’t believe in networking. You have a LinkedIn account for the heck of it. You are a ‘me-too’. You don’t believe in the power of networking. You consider others profile as fake and overstated. You rely only on your own people, HR, and the conventional model for sourcing all the time. You want to believe that ‘hard copy’ is more credible than a ‘soft copy’. You are an old school.
Though Social Networks are a sort of a virtual world, it’s activities are performed by members who are real human beings which have feelings and emotions. It matters a lot to the ‘connections’ you have. React positively and start your H2H today. Help someone with whatever you can and see your value grow manifold.
Let there be not any Misky Moments while on social networks.
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone” – Ronald Regan
Antony Konnoth