I'm an independent LinkedIn® trainer, offering training sessions, consultations and workshops for individuals and businesses who need support on the latest best practices on LinkedIn. I've researched LinkedIn deeply since 2017 and am now an international speaker, author, podcaster, conference organiser and community manager.

👦🏻🧒🏽  𝗘𝗦𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗢+ 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬
Our private community includes two live Q&A calls per month, a discussion group, a video library with 200+ premium pieces of content with captions and transcripts, a podcast, and other member benefits. This is the best place for ongoing learning and support around LinkedIn best practice and online business promotion.
£42/month, no minimum contract

🟦   𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗦
⚙️   Group training: best for corporations and organisations. Usually works best with up to 12 people on each session but I can train much larger groups on request.
Starts at £799

⚙️   Consultations: best for self-employed business owners.
60 mins: £199
20 mins: £79

🟩   𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗠𝗘? 
I used to be a software and hardware tester before becoming a technical copywriter and editor, including being a director of the UK's largest membership organisation for editors and proofreaders. I've since specialised in organic visibility on LinkedIn, bringing all of my technical communication expertise combined with a deep knowledge of how the LinkedIn platform works.

I have trained hundreds of clients on LinkedIn best practice, including training other LinkedIn trainers in advanced strategies. I now have 120+ LinkedIn recommendations and 60+ guest appearances on podcasts.

My personal branding handbook Content DNA has 100+ positive ratings on Amazon. First 6 chapters are free on request.

I created and co-host the UpLift Live conference on LinkedIn best practice, the UK's only conference of its type, with 150+ attendees each year.

I'm the host of the Informed podcast, a short weekly show that shares LinkedIn tips. It's the longest-running podcast on LinkedIn best practice, with almost 500 episodes since 2013.

🟧   𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗠𝗬 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗
1.   Include the word "pineapple" in your invitation to connect.
2.   Accept with your full heart that pineapple on pizza is double delish.

🥶   𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧
🐶   Boxers: the best dog breed
⚽️   Liverpool Football Club
⚔️   The Traitors (BBC)

I used to be heavier: jesp.me/fat
I'm an actual lord: jesp.me/truth

John Espirian

⛔️ "LinkedIn security" is NOT a real account. A lot of people have been asking about comments appearing to come from an official LinkedIn account – except that the account usually has no profile pic and no followers.

It's fake and clearly set up so that it can comment on posts with the express aim of worrying members enough to get them to click on dodgy links. Don't fall into that trap.

LinkedIn should update the company page setup screens to make "LinkedIn" a reserved word that people can't use in a page name.

Also useful would be to prevent accounts with 0 followers from being able to post links, to stop the endless cycle of fake accounts being set up for spam purposes each day.

LinkedIn Help (which is a real account): please do something. We independent LinkedIn trainers are acting as your unofficial support department here.

PS. I'm going to mention the topic on this week's episode 474 of the Informed podcast.

Posted: 6 Jan 2026 at 8.54am (GMT)

Relentlessly helpful® LinkedIn® nerd. Independent LinkedIn trainer & LinkedIn speaker. Creator of Espresso+ community & UpLift Live conference. Host of Informed podcast. Not a douche canoe 🛶

🕥  Some people have asked why I put a date and time at the bottom of my posts. 

1. It's a protest against LinkedIn
The date and time is encoded into the long ID that's baked into the web address of each post. So, LinkedIn definitely have the data but choose not to display it. I think this is wrong. I'm not one to praise Twitter but they've been showing dates and times on tweets for almost TWO DECADES. It's mad that we don't see this basic info on LinkedIn. Instead, we see fuzzy relative times (6h, 2d, etc.).

2. It might help readers
If someone wants to quote something I've written, they know exactly when it was published. It's possibly hubris to think anyone would do that, but I'm just trying to be helpful in the event that I say something worthy of amplification.

———

This post's ID is 7416787304414965760. Sufficiently nerdy people know how to extract the exact date and time of posting from that number. But most don't, hence I put it in plain text at the bottom of my posts, like this …

Posted: 13 Jan 2026 at 10.24am (GMT)

PS. Annoyingly, TikTok also doesn't display a date and time on posts, but again that info is recorded and discoverable.

"Link engagement": this is even more of a reason NOT to put links in comments, as your individual post analytics now reveal how many clicks your links in posts have received.

I'd still avoid links in posts whenever possible, but if you have to include them, at least you can now see how effective they are.

Posted: 30 Jan 2026 at 3.10pm (GMT)

There are only 3 things about you that are shown on every LinkedIn screen:

Your NAME
Your PHOTO
Your HEADLINE

(We'll talk about names and photos another time …)

The HEADLINE is increasingly important because comments are being seen more than ever, and that's where a short, eye-catching line of text can encourage clicks through to your profile, which is where connections are made.

Focus on the first handful of words (~40 characters) of your headline and make a bold statement that will spark intrigue and capture brain space.

Instead of being a comedian – "oxygen consumer", "former baby" – be clear and deliver some relevant truth in the smallest space possible. Set an expectation that you're confident you can fulfil. I often refer to the headline as "the biggest promise you can keep."

My "relentlessly helpful" phrase has done a lot of heavy lifting for me since I came up with it in 2017, and it's why I wrote the book Content DNA. 

If you haven't touched your headline for ages, it's time to refresh it for 2026. If you need help, let's talk about it.

Posted: 8 Jan 2026 at 9.58am (GMT)

Reset The LinkedIn Room, in 4K.

Posted: 14 Jan 2026 at 1.32pm (GMT)

Thanks to everyone who's supported the Espresso+ community since I launched it on 31 January 2022 (while in the middle of a nasty bout of chickenpox!). We made it to four years and counting 😎

I'm currently on the way home to South Wales after delivering a LinkedIn masterclass at Inspire Day in Milan yesterday. Back in the saddle soon with our latest Espresso+ LinkedIn Roundup of all new features and news over the past month, exclusively for members. It's been a busy one!

Posted: 31 Jan 2026 at 11.17am (GMT)

I have no idea whether these numbers are good (what does that even mean?) but on the off-chance that anyone is interested, here's how the Informed podcast is doing. These stats are from Captivate FM, my host for the show.

Latest episode 474 is out today, on the topic of fake accounts. You can listen on Apple and Spotify. 

Posted: 10 Jan 2026 at 3.46pm (GMT)

Thanks to everyone who came to yesterday's open LaunchPad call ahead of the UpLift Live 26 conference, including some past and future speakers. It was a fun session and 16 lucky people out of the 130 who entered won something in our prize draw. 

Top prize was a free ticket to the conference, plus there were consultation sessions and business books being given out. If you won, look out for an email from me this morning.

We have one more LaunchPad call on the way on 20 March, exclusively for conference ticket-holders. We're also soon offering a couple of valuable bonus webinars to ticket-holders.

The main conference is on Thursday 26 March in Birmingham, but there's also a livestream+recordings ticket if you can't make it in person. Prices will be going up soon, so now is the time to hop aboard. 

If you want to level up your LinkedIn knowledge in a day, UpLift Live is the place to be. Please shout if you have any questions, and thanks again to everyone for your support.

Posted: 9 Jan 2026 at 8.56am (GMT)

TEST: posting something off-topic should not get lots of views. Let's see:

Last night's Golden Globes winners

Best film – drama
Hamnet

Best film – musical or comedy
One Battle After Another

Best male actor in a film
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Best female actor in a film – drama
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Best television series – musical or comedy
The Studio

Best television limited series, anthology series or television film
Adolescence 

Best television series – drama
The Pitt

Best female actor in a television series – drama
Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus

Best standup comedy on television
Ricky Gervais, Ricky Gervais: Mortality 

Best supporting female actor on television
Erin Doherty, Adolescence 

Best film – non-English language
The Secret Agent

Best film – animated
KPop Demon Hunters

Best director – film
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Cinematic and box office achievement
Sinners

Best female actor in a television limited series, anthology series or television film
Michelle Williams, Dying for Sex

Best male actor in television limited series, anthology series or television film
Stephen Graham, Adolescence

Best male actor in a film – musical or comedy
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme 

Best female actor in a film – musical or comedy
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You 

Best screenplay – film
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Best original score – film
Ludwig Göransson, Sinners

Best original song – film
Golden, KPop Demon Hunters

Best podcast
Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Best male actor in a television series – musical or comedy
Seth Rogen, The Studio

Best supporting male actor on television
Owen Cooper, Adolescence

Best female actor in a television series – musical or comedy
Jean Smart, Hacks

Best male actor in a television series – drama
Noah Wyle, The Pitt

Best male actor in a supporting role in a film
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best female actor in a supporting role in a film
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

PS. Saw Hamnet yesterday. Didn't think it was that great. Sorry!

Posted: 12 Jan 2026 at 7.52am (GMT)

The Espresso+ community turns 4 years old next week 🎉 That prompted me to revise the Experience item about it on my profile. 

Did you know that each Experience item can be up to 2000 characters long and have media attached to it?

Here's the new text:

———

Launched on 31 January 2022, Espresso+ is an online community of 100+ small business owners and solopreneurs. 

Membership offers learning, support and accountability for those who want to grow their business visibility on LinkedIn and online in an ethical, organic way.

Community members – "Espressians" – get:

• Private discussion group
• 2 Live Q&A calls per month
• Expert Q&A calls
• Monthly roundup of new LinkedIn features
• Video library & audio podcast
• Premium blog articles
• Audio podcast
• Email updates and offers
• Other member benefits

All video content is captioned along with full written transcripts, and an audio version of all content is available via our private Espresso+ podcast.

Members are based around the world, with community call times organised to cater for as many time zones as possible. 

Approximately one-third of members are LinkedIn trainers/specialists, meaning that Espresso+ is the home for some of the most experienced and knowledgeable power users on this platform; however, people of all technical abilities are welcome in the community. The golden rule is: don't be a douche canoe.

The discussion group is an ideal place to get quick, authoritative answers on common questions about building an effective online presence on LinkedIn and beyond.

The community contains no ads or sponsorships, and members are not asked or expected to support other members' content. To be clear, Espresso+ is NOT an engagement pod!

Membership costs only £42/month, with no minimum contract.

———

As you can see, I don't use the traditional CV-style writing that's typical for the Experience section. As a self-employed business owner, I'm not looking for a job, and so I can use this space to give an indication of the value of the community. 

What will the new AI-powered algorithms make of this? No idea yet. But it's all true and if it moves anyone to find out more about the community, it's done its job.

I hope this post might spur some of you to consider reviewing your own Experience items for 2026(?)

Posted: 21 Jan 2026 at 12.49pm (GMT)

On recommendations and video testimonials as powerful but underused marketing tools.

Posted: 15 Jan 2026 at 10.54am (GMT)

One of the best ways to build trust in your product or service is to get others to do your marketing for you. It's why we look at restaurant reviews r

Open article: LinkedIn recommendations and video testimonials by John Espirian • 5 min read

LinkedIn recommendations and video testimonials

Oh, Bending Spoons, why did you have to come for my beloved Vimeo? 


I've been a Vimeo power user for more than a decade. Now, the platform is likely to go the way of Evernote, StreamYard and WeTransfer, all of which have previously been acquired by BS (a fitting initialism 💩). 

Eventbrite is also moving to BS in 2026, and now the shambles is beginning at Vimeo with layoffs. I'm expecting feature cuts and a tripling of the price soon, which means that I'll have to look seriously at moving my Espresso+ video estate elsewhere.

Not happy at all 😡

Posted: 23 Jan 2026 at 2.00pm (GMT)

🆓 Until 28 February, eligible college and university students can get 12 free months of Microsoft 365 Premium and LinkedIn Premium Career.

Here are the details just posted on LinkedIn Help: 

• You must verify eligibility using a valid college or university email address.
• The offer isn’t available if you currently have or recently had a LinkedIn Career, LinkedIn Business, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter Lite subscription.
• After 12 free months, both subscriptions renew at standard pricing unless cancelled in your Microsoft and LinkedIn accounts.
• Offer available through February 28, 2026, or while quantities last.
• Sign up with your college or university email to redeem this promotional offer.

Get your kids to hop on this in the next month.

Posted: 25 Jan 2026 at 8.10am (GMT)

💾  I've finally got a LinkedIn feature that many people in my Espresso+ community had a couple of months ago: the ability to see how many saves and sends an individual post has had on LinkedIn.

These are useful metrics for understanding how valuable your audience finds your content. They'd be even more powerful if the numbers were shown publicly alongside the stats for reactions and comments. The only possible downside I could think of there (apart from slightly more noise on the screen) is that these stats could give engagement pod users a bad new incentive to maximise the numbers ("make sure you like/comment AND save/send all of my craptacular content").

I'd like to see a combined set of saved and sent posts in the main analytics dashboard, instead of having to click into each post's analytics. That would be an easier way of tracking the perceived usefulness of your content over time.

Thanks to Espressian and UpLift Live 26 speaker Tony Restell for the reminder to check this. I had forgotten all about it!

Posted: 28 Jan 2026 at 9.00am (GMT)

Bonus webinar for UpLift Live 26 ticket-holders on 5 February at 4pm UK time: Illiya Vjestica is going to give us the low-down on how to transform our boring presentations into something memorable and impactful. 

He did an amazing job with Michelle J Raymond's presentation at UpLift Live 25 last year, and now he's going to be sharing his wisdom with everyone coming to this year's event.

Get your in-person or virtual ticket in time for this webinar so that we can invite you to attend (we'll send the Zoom via email). 

Thanks for supporting us, Illiya, and for making the UpLift Live conference even more valuable!

Posted: 22 Jan 2026 at 10.50am (GMT)

On tomorrow's LaunchPad call, we're drawing winners for our prize draw to give away a free ticket to the UpLift Live 26 conference, along with other prizes such as consultations and business books. 

There's still time to enter if you're quick. It's completely free, as is the 30-min Zoom call where the draw is happening. Get your name in and good luck!

𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄
https://lnkd.in/edAeNsuJ

𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗣𝗮𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹
𝟴 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆, 𝟭𝗽𝗺–𝟭.𝟯𝟬𝗽𝗺 𝗨𝗞
https://lnkd.in/ejevFB-f

(If you haven't come across the LaunchPad before, it's a set of calls for ticket-holders to the conference, but our next call tomorrow is open to everyone. So, if you're on the fence about coming to Birmingham on 26 March, this is a great way to see who else is going to be in the room.)

Posted: 7 Jan 2026 at 11.14am (GMT)

Microsoft's latest earnings results (FY26 Q2) relating to LinkedIn:

• Double-digit member growth in LinkedIn, with 30% growth in paid video ads. 
• Strong adoption of LinkedIn Hiring Assistant, with weekly users growing 17% w/w on average.
• LinkedIn Marketing Solutions revenue grew 15% year over year.
• LinkedIn revenue increased 11% and 10% in constant currency driven by Marketing Solutions.
• Microsoft expect LinkedIn revenue growth in the low-double digits.

No news yet on LinkedIn member numbers, though the Q1 results put membership at 1.3 billion. I'll update when I have more. 

Going to be on my travels for a few days now, as I'm speaking at Inspire Day in Milan tomorrow 🇮🇹

Posted: 29 Jan 2026 at 6.35am (GMT)

Episode 476 of the Informed podcast came out on Saturday, where I revealed the name of our final speaker for UpLift Live 26 on 26 March 2026 in Birmingham. 

Listen now to see who's joining us for the UK's original conference on LinkedIn best practice. You'll also find out about a free bonus we're sharing with all ticket-holders.

The weekly Informed show is available on Apple, Spotify and all major podcast platforms. It's only 15 minutes and this week's main tip is about audio pronunciations on your LinkedIn profile.

If you're coming to Birmingham, please grab your ticket now as prices go up soon!

Posted: 26 Jan 2026 at 8.50am (GMT)

LIAM DARMODYᵍᵐ

Personal Brand Strategist & Networking Coach → I help entrepreneurs, executives & teams build brands to attract clients, talent & opportunity | Family Man | Connector | AI & Blockchain Bull | Hot Sauce Aficionado🌶️

I help founders, entrepreneurs, and executives build businesses by becoming trusted, visible, and referenceable in their space. My work sits at the intersection of personal brand strategy, go-to-market execution, and AI-enabled operations. I help people understand how to show up across LinkedIn, search, and AI-driven discovery and how that visibility turns into real opportunity over time.

Currently, I'm working with Brandi (mybrandi.ai), helping companies understand how they show up inside AI-generated answers and recommendations, and how brand visibility, trust, and demand are increasingly shaped by systems they do not directly control.

Seeing this shift up close has changed how I help individuals and teams show up online.

A core part of my approach is what I call Voice Enablement with AI.

Instead of writing for people, I teach them how to use AI to think, draft, and create content in their own voice. Most clients stop writing from scratch and start editing instead. Content creation becomes faster, more consistent, and still unmistakably human.

How? Because we are using your actual voice!

What I help with most often:

• Founder and executive positioning and LinkedIn profile strategy
• Personal narrative clarity for humans, AI systems, and decision-makers
• Relationship-based networking and social selling without pressure tactics
• Using AI to streamline content creation, engagement, and workflows
• Measuring what actually matters in brand and go-to-market efforts

Alongside my advisory work, I take on select fractional go-to-market and operations roles, supporting teams during growth, transition, or strategic realignment.

I’m known for helping people:

• Clarify what makes them meaningfully different
• Build trust before asking for anything
• Turn visibility into opportunity over time
• Turn chaos into organized chaos ;)

I call this manifesting serendipity.

It’s not luck. It’s intention, consistency, and showing up in the right conversations long before you need something. It's being in someone's orbit often enough that you become the first person they think of when they need your product or service. 

It's about being top of mind. 

Outside of work, I’m a husband, a dad of two, an early-morning lifter, and a proud hot sauce aficionado 🌶️. 

If you’re building a brand, a business, or your next chapter, I’d love to jam with you. 

Hi5, 
LD

Founder

I help executives, founders, and their teams build magnetic brands that attract clients, talent, and opportunity on LinkedIn. 

My services include: 

My services include: 
- Profile Optimization
- LinkedIn feature training
- Core content strategy
- Ghostediting (ask me about it)
- Content performance analysis 
- Sales Navigator training

Liam's Brand Stand was born out of my passion for personal branding and belief that LinkedIn is the ultimate platform for professionals and organizations to manifest serendipity and unlock opportunity.

This passion started as a fascination that turned into a hobby, then to a side hustle, and now, my full-time focus. I started creating content and being more intentional about building my brand here in January 2020 and since then I've amassed 35,000 followers and my content has garnered ~23,000,000 impressions, ~600,000 reactions, and ~100,000 comments. 

Completely organically.

Pretty crazy, especially when you consider I'm just a suburban dad who took to LinkedIn as a way to have conversation with other adults while cooped up in my house with my wife, a toddler, and an infant during a pandemic. 

That's the kind of opportunity that exists on LinkedIn and I'm on a mission to help more people experience it for themselves. 

If you're interested in doing so, visit: 

liamsbrandstand.com to learn more 
-or- 
calendly.com/liamdarmody to book time with me

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hi5, 
LD

LIAM DARMODY

Today I stepped on the scale & clocked 278lbs. 

I know that sounds like a weird flex, but I have not been in the 270s since August 2016.

Nearly 10 years. 

When I started my business in August 2023, I was 347lbs. 

I couldn’t walk a mile without running out of breath.
I couldn’t walk upstairs without the same.
I feared my kids asking me to play because I knew how hard that would be for me. 

I had spent the better part of 30 years using food as medicine to heal wounds from childhood, which started at A&D burgers in Mississauga, Ontario. 

I decided enough was enough. 

Joined a gym.

Started with 3x per week, which was all I could do back then. 

Then 4x per week. 
Then 5x per week.
And now 6x per week (sometimes ;)

it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do, not just because of how challenging the physical workouts are, but because it hasn't garnered massive results overnight.

I've been an all or nothing kind of guy since the beginning of time and I've started and stopped trying to lose weight many times before.

I wanted three months of hard work to magically undo 30 years of unhealthy habits.

It doesn't work like that.

I'm at the point now where the scale doesn't even really matter that much to me because I've realized that which really matters is that I'm showing up in that gym every weekday.

putting in the work to be healthier.

day by day.
Week by week.
Month by month. 
Year by year. 

I may still be round but I'm in the best shape of my life. 

And it feels amazing.

My advice to anyone who has struggled with weight loss is to try this: 

1) Find a gym with coaches & classes. Expert accountability and community are massive motivators. 

2) Go 3-5 days per week for 3 months. Non-negotiable. 

3) Meal prep. Every Sunday I throw 4 lb of ground chicken, a bag of hash brown potatoes, and 15 eggs on a blackstone flat top and make a meal for myself that has 100 g of protein. That's breakfast after the gym every day. 

If you do that, you will notice a change in yourself, not just on the scale but mentally. You will start to believe that you are capable of things you never thought you were capable of. 

And that will motivate you to keep going.

I’m still on my journey. I’ve got a long way to go, but I have zero doubt that I will get there now. 

And that is something I haven’t felt ever before. 

It’s liberating as hell. 

Good luck. 

My DMs are open if you ever want to jam about it.

I’ve got to go carry both of my kids up the stairs now, and I’m proud to say I won’t be winded. 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

Personal Brand Strategist & Fractional GTM Operator helping founders build their businesses with LinkedIn & AI 🌶️ Hot Sauce Aficionado 🌶️

No alternative text description for this image

HUGE NEWS! 

My incredible wife Megan Bailey Darmody has a new job! She’s swapping floral fragrances, petals, and stems for wax, wicks, and fragrance sticks by joining CandleScience to lead performance marketing. 

CandleScience is one of the largest suppliers and educators in the candle making industry and I am so excited for her (and to have more candles around the house…;)

Megan is an absolute boss and I’m so proud to be her husband. She inspires me every single day. 

Please join me in congratulating her on the new role!

Hi5,
LD
🕯️

Brand Strategist and Fractional GTM Operator helping founders grow their businesses with LinkedIn and AI • Hot Sauce Aficionado 🌶️

This is not okay. 
This is not what America is supposed to be.
This is not what “law enforcement” looks like. 

This is not “the land of the Free”
This is not “the Home of the Brave” 
This is not “one country, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”

This is barbaric.
This is cowardice.
This is fear mongering. 
This is absolutely devastating.

This is the execution of an American citizen exercising his unalienable constitutional rights. 

And it’s f*cking unacceptable.

I am astounded that this continues to happen with seemingly zero repercussions. 

What are we doing? 
How did we get here?

And most importantly, how do we stop it? 

I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on politically, if you are willing to stand by and watch this without speaking up or taking action, you’re not my kind of people. 

Political differences are acceptable—appreciated, even. 

Staying silent as American citizens are murdered by masked “men” beating their chests and brandishing weapons to fuel their bravado is not. 

My heart goes out to the families who have been impacted by these devastating displays of government overreach. 

I cannot begin to comprehend your pain and nothing I say could possibly fill the void left by such a tragic loss.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t say something. 

I will never forget this image. 

Especially not at the polls.

☮️&❤️

This one's for my fellow dog owners... 

The other day, a weird triangle box showed up on my doorstep while I was working and when I opened it, I found this AI-generated portrait of my dog, Lucky DarmoDoodle, looking far more classy and refined than is reality. 

Turns out my wife found this site called Vogue Paws that will turn any photo of your hound into a portrait worth framing. 

This is not an ad for that service, I just think it's cool. 

I'm curious...

Do you have a pet? 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

Dear Leaders, 

Please stop putting random hour-long meetings on people's calendars without context. 

Sincerely, 
Everyone who's ever worked for someone else.

Underrated life hack: 

Make others feel seen, heard, & understood.

Too many people think that all you have to do is show up a few times per week on Linkedin, write a few posts, and start drinking from a lead firehose. That doesn’t work here anymore.

5 years ago it may have, but not now. 

Building your brand/business on Linkedin requires so much more than simply publishing content.

Linkedin is a signal farm and your ability to pay attention to and engage with those signals is what determines your success here. 

I view it as a funnel exercise.

Once you see it that way, you can’t unsee it. 

I always say that Linkedin is the world’s largest CRM, and the leads are already built in and pre-qualified for you (if you build your network right). 

This is the Linkedin Signal Funnel. 

Do you view it this way, too? 

Hi5,
LD

graphical user interface, text, application

Today I went for a 30-minute walk and talk where I actually held my iPhone up to my ear the entire time like it was 2007. It was weird. Do not recommend.

I bet I’ve said “I wish I knew how to code” hundreds of times over the last two decades. I definitely have had no shortage of app ideas. 

I’ve been hearing so much about vibecoding and dabbled a little bit, but never built anything that actually worked on my phone.   

Until last night, when Sitting in front of the TV watching football, I vibecoded my first functional mobile app using ChatGPT and Claude Code.

I:

-> installed Node.js
—> used it to run Expo from the terminal
—->used Expo Go on my phone to preview the app

Things I knew nothing about prior. 

And in 2 hours I coded a functional MVP of an app I’ve been thinking was a good idea since becoming a father. 

It ain’t pretty (yet), but it’s functional. 

And I’m feeling pretty proud of myself, not to mention I really enjoyed the whole experience. It’s kind of like solving a puzzle.

All in my native tongue. 
No programming knowledge necessary. 

What a time to be alive! 

I’m curious… 

Have you used AI to build any software yet? 

Hi5
LD
🌶️

Are you a generalist or a specialist? 

I spent the better part of the first twenty years of my career feeling pretty insecure about the fact that I was more of a Swiss Army knife than a specialist. 

I was genuinely surprised when I would get new opportunities with higher titles because we've been taught to believe that you don't climb the ladder unless you have a very specific set of skills and scope. 

But being a generalist has always been my natural motion. I’ve always been too curious and too fascinated by too many things to just focus on one. 

These days I see articles about how “the future belongs to generalists” and companies are focusing on cultivating T-shaped talent—people with depth in one area and breadth across many others. 

I'm excited about this narrative and a lot more comfortable embracing that jack-of-many trades moniker nowadays than ever before.

Excited about the future.

I’m curious: 

Do you consider yourself more of a specialist or generalist? 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

P.S. this post started as a comment on Conor Grennan’s recent post about generalists. Go follow him for fantastic AI thought leadership content.

I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing a lot of new faces viewing/following/connecting these days and for the most part they are exactly the types of people I generally want to be talking to:

Founders at tech companies
Fractional executives 
Executive coaches 
Marketing folks
Comms folks
Ops folks
AI folks 

Come to think of it, that is a lot. I guess I like to talk to a wide variety of people, but regardless, I’m seeing a lot more of them and I like it. 

I think LinkedIn’s new 360Brew AI system is brewin! 

How’s LinkedIn treating you these days? 

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

I just crossed 300,000 words whispered through Wispr Flow 
(apparently that’s the equivalent of three books!) 
Over the last six months, I’ve dictated an average of 103 words per minute, across 79 different apps. Slack. LinkedIn comments. Emails. Texts. Notes. Everywhere.

Wispr Flow is the best tool I found in 2025. 

It’s one of those special products that revealed a problem I didn’t realize I had—I didn’t realize how much mental load typing created until I didn’t have to do it anymore.

Same way Uber changed how I thought about taxis.
Same way Tesla changed how I thought about driving.

Once I stopped typing and started thinking out loud, everything just felt so much more natural.

With AI, I can dictate stream-of-consciousness thoughts and let the machine do the cleanup. The result is faster output and more authentic writing. I’m no longer switching modes from “thinking” to “typing.” 

I just think and talk. 

That’s a massive unlock.

I’m usually an early adopter with a pretty high bar, which means I moves on quickly from most new products I try. 

Not this one. 

Wispr Flow is now core to how I work.

If you want to try it, you get 2,000 words free. Fair warning though… there’s a very good chance you’ll end up paying the $15/month.

(Sorry, not sorry)

Check it out here and get in flow!!!! 

👉 https://lnkd.in/epMgJFez

Hi5,
LD 
🌶️

P.S. Not a paid partnership. I just genuinely love this product!

It's now been a little more than three years since ChatGPT launched on November 30th, 2022. And it's so wild how much AI is changing virtually every aspect of our lives. 

I started using ChatGPT the day it came out and was a paid user within a week.

Then Claude hit the scene and I started using that. 
Then Perplexity. 
Then Gemini. 
Then Grok. 

ChatGPT's first mover advantage is strong in my case, which gives it an unfair advantage over the others because I do use it as my default for most things. 

I like Claude better for writing. 

I'm intrigued to see how much market share Gemini is gaining though I haven't really committed much time to using Gemini myself.  

I don't really mess with Grok. 

I know some people who are all-in on one thing. I know other people who use different LLMs for different purposes. I think I fall into the latter bucket but ChatGPT remains my primary for most things. And I struggle to balance usage across all effectively. 

I'm now at the point where I might be looking for that thing I did the other day and having to check multiple LLMs. 

One of my goals in 2026 is to streamline my AI stack and focus on deciding which one is really the best one for me all-around rather than defaulting to ChatGPT because it's been around for me the longest.

And so, I'm curious...

If you could only use ONE of the major AI LLMs going forward, which one would you pick? BONUS POINTS for telling us why in the comments. 

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

If I had to pick just two social networks to spend time on, it would be Substack and LinkedIn. 

Why? 

Because they're pretty complementary to one another and most people on Substack link to their LinkedIn profile, you can easily find and follow in both places. 

Admittedly, I spend more time on LinkedIn than I do Substack right now, because I’ve built a larger and more engaged following here. But I plan to increase the time I spend on Substack significantly.

Why? 

Because Substack lets me build a more direct, owned connection with my audience and because it’s a much better platform from a usability standpoint. 

It’s like Substack has gone to all the other socials, taken notes about what sucks, and built the solution. 

I’m increasingly starting to view the two this way: 

Linkedin is where you build your personal brand. 
Substack is where you build (and monetize!) your personal media empire. 

Linkedin is top of funnel.
Substack is middle of funnel. 

Going forward, I’m: 

Incredibly bullish on Substack. 
Incredibly bullish on LinkedIn. 
Insanely bullish on the two of them paired together. 

Are you on substack? 

Drop your link below if so. 

Here’s mine: https://lnkd.in/eEZA6RHN

Hi5,
LD
🌶️

“DAD!! Stop using ChatGPT to play Monopoly!” 

Whoops.

You had one job…

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gone to an ATM in the last 365 days. Today was one of those rare visits (to get money for babysitter tonight, which is literally my only use case for cash anymore), and of course…

Unexpected benefit of taking two weeks off of LinkedIn: “it can only get better from here” 🤪Happy to be back. I love this place.

Appreciation post for founders who value operations & core operating principles: 388 impressions. Post about ATM not functioning: 10,000 impressions. Checks out. 

Remember: exciting or frustrating as they may be, impressions are not the metric that matters most on Linkedin. Far from it. 

Fill your network with active people who might be interested in seeing your content and post about: 

Who you are
What you know
Why you're here
How you help

Start conversation with those who show interest

Consistency & patience compounds over time.

One day that 388 impression post might bring in a opportunity. 
Or maybe the 10,000 impression post does it.

The point is: 

When in doubt, zoom out. 

It's not about the performance of each individual post. 
It's about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. 

We're building personal brands here, folks, and those last as long as we do (and beyond), so don't let short-term frustration prevent long-term success. 

How do you handle ups and downs? 

Hi5. I'm rooting for you, 
LD
🌶️

I don't hit play on many LinkedIn videos.
 
But when Jule Kim, PCC Kim posts, I watch.
 
Not just because her content is good. It's because she's one of the few people on this platform who can hold my ADHD brain's attention long enough to actually finish what she started.
 
Nearly a year ago, I DM'd her and told her I loved her videos. 
 
Eventually we jumped on a virtual coffee that turned into a two-hour conversation that felt like catching up with an old friend, even though we'd never actually met.
 
At some point she mentioned wanting to start a podcast and she asked if I'd be interested in co-hosting. 
 
And so... we're did!
 
Permission Not Required is our answer to all the things we think but don't say. 
 
The insecurities we hide. 
The vulnerability we're afraid to show. 
The human stuff that gets filtered out of our carefully curated professional feeds.
 
In a digital world increasingly being dominated by AI, we can't afford to lose the human element.
 
Who we are matters.
How we feel matters.
What we think matters.
 
And we shouldn't let our own doubts and insecurities convince us otherwise.
 
Our first episode is live now. 
 
If you've ever felt like you had to ask permission to be yourself—this one's for you.

https://lnkd.in/eGe7cDnt
 
Would love to know: 
 
What's something you think but rarely say out loud professionally? We'd love to know what you'd love to hear! 
 
Hi5, 
LD 
🌶️ 
 
p.s. you can really tell who the true video pro is based on the photo below, eh? I look like a hostage being interrogated in a dark room while she's all about the chill vibes. This is going to be fun.

Thank you, Paul Carney, for this glorious AI masterpiece. I'm not big on cash, but I could get used to carrying these around 🤖

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