As we find ourselves mid-year 2020, our standard editorial topics for the month, Environmental/Regulations seem almost naïve. I have not heard anyone talk about the environment for months. There is plenty of talk about regulations, but they are not the kinds of regulations we normally talk about. The world of 2020 is something we have not seen before, and, on top of that, it is not a local thing--it is worldwide.
We will do our best to stay focused on the pulp and paper industry and particularly on the activity we believe is most important--spinning your invoice printer. For in society as whole, if we do not individually spin our invoice printers, we cannot create the earnings and the wealth necessary to do or invest in other things which might impassion us.
Be certain--I am not advocating a certain position or discouraging any other positions you might have on the state of the world today. What you believe, what you support, is your business, not mine. What we will attempt to do here is help you discern your forums and methods of expression in order to allow you to continue your business focus during business hours.
So, this week, let us talk about LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become a very powerful forum for business discussions. We use it ourselves and we use it as a supplement for our own and our clients' advertising programs. From our perspective, it is a tool, just like many other tools we use to communicate. And, like many tools, there is a proper way to use it and an improper way.
For goodness sake, use LinkedIn properly. It is not a place for your political views, no matter how impassioned you may feel about them. Ask yourself this before you post there, "Is this post going to help or hurt the spinning of my invoice printer?" Neutral is not even a good answer.
There is only one good answer, of course. Post things on LinkedIn that are going to help spin your invoice printer. As you know from reading here in the past, we when talk about "spinning the invoice printer" this is on several levels. First, there is the company for which you work. Mess up its ability to spin its invoice printer and you will likely find yourself on the outside looking in. Then there is your personal invoice printer. Put yourself in a good light, and it just may be someone will seek you out for a new position at a new company.
Displaying your emotions, displaying your political views, even sharing your crazy hobby of driving motorcycles off tall cliffs are unwise things to highlight on LinkedIn. I know Johnny Carson has been retired and dead for a long time. At one time he was considered the king of late-night television. He was asked one time why he did not do political jokes. His response was important--why should I upset half my audience? No matter how obvious you think your viewpoint is and how universally you think it should be adopted, you are probably wrong for at least half the readers.
People's emotions are running high and they feel a need to express their opinion to the world. May I suggest you use one of the social media platforms, but just not LinkedIn, if you feel a burning need to get an issue out there.
I hope you find this advice helpful. Whether you do or not, make sure you do whatever you do in a safe manner--emotions can cause us to forget our safety rules and regulations.
Be safe and we will talk next week.
