We often come across people on LinkedIn™️ who look interesting and produce content we find valuable...so we follow or connect and over time we feel as though we get to know them better.

But do we REALLY know them?

interesting People interviews are designed to reveal more about the background, personal lives and characteristics of some of our favourite people on LinkedIn™️.

This week, it was my immense pleasure to sit down and chat with the UK accountants mentor and speaker MARK LEE FCA .

Bruce Johnston has been helping people use LinkedIn™️ more effectively for the last 13 years and I've been a follower for 8 years. Bruce is a great wordsmith and one of the more original thinkers out there when it comes to LinkedIn™️ so I thought it was about time to bring him onto the show to share some of his insights.

LinkedIn™️ seem to love it, more and more posts are created by it and comment threads are becoming infested with it...so I thought it was time to revisit the topic of AI and try to answer this important question...

Can AI be used in a credible, authentic and ethical way on LinkedIn™️?

That plus...

• New - Company page premium inc' Who viewed your company page'

• An improved 'Premium benefits' page plus a special offer

• Why the new 'Recruiters verification badge' is a disgrace!

• Post search results now favour Articles

• A great new option for profile custom buttons

• An interesting piece on Colla'boring'ative articles!

• Post of the week

This week I chat with Merrill Charette a long timer listener to the podcast (and a podcaster himself!) about his upbringing, experiences and how he ended up in the maritime industry.

I really enjoyed chatting with Merrill who is a fascinating character and a great raconteur. In this interview we cover;

• How he grew up the '6th child' with his other siblings being 5 Old English Sheepdogs!

• His very sports orientated childhood and his (and his fathers) obsession with Lacrosse

• The benefits of focus and determination to achieve his potential in lacrosse

• How he attended 4 high schools in 5 years experiencing bullying at every turn

• Tough love from his father

• Why he gave up lacrosse and rebuilt his identity

• Dealing with authority (when you know they are wrong)

• The 1000 Origami Crane Challenge and how it changed him

• Completing a challenging 2,200-mile trek along the Appalachian Trail

• Quitting law school

• The difference between moving on and giving up

• How a random comment from a stranger "You could always live on a boat" led him to the maritime industry.

• How he negotiated for and bought his first boat

• How he taught himself to sail his first voyage from New York to Boston

• Finding a new community of boat owners

• Becoming a boating entrepreneur as an outsider to the industry

• Artificial intelligence and the maritime industry

This week in the podcast I complete my review of Uplift Live with the speakers from the afternoon sessions

Gillian Whitney  

Kevin D. Turner 

Tiina Jarvet

Richard van der Blom 

Also in this edition;

• New ‘Takeaways’ on Articles & posts
• New video feed on mobile
• An excellent example of brand partnership with influencer
• Post of the week

My thoughts and feedback on Uplift Live

UpLift Live is an in-person, LinkedIn-focused conference that took place for the first time on 21 March 2024 in Birmingham, UK.

With the demise of Creator mode, or the opening of creator mode to everyone (however you wish to view it!) imminent, it probably opens up the possibility of all LinkedIn™️ users having the opportunity to create their own newsletters.

So it seems a good time to have a new look at this feature so that you can decide whether you will be be going down that track.

That plus;

• A new mysterious 'Who viewed your profile' filter.

• Your comment doesn't comply with our policies!

• AI enhancements drive an increase in LinkedIn™️ Premium subscriptions.

• A sneaky way to get 3 months premium free.

• How AI features are being assessed

• Native AI post generation. Is it any good?

• Post of the week

This month we will see Creator mode disappearing and with it, the obligation to have 'Follow' as the primary option on your profile so I thought it was worth revisiting the persistent question...Connect or Follow?

That plus;

• New Recruiter & Learning tools that assist retention but might also have the the polar opposite impact!

• New Privacy setting

• New option for profile custom CTA button

• Feedback from last week regarding the homepage feed

• Post of the week.

Has your feed changed recently? Are you seeing posts from people who are unfamiliar to you?

This may be due to LinkedIn™️ deciding that they know what 'quality' content looks like.

Not you...you are clearly not in a position to decide this for yourself!

This week I discuss what we can do to fix this.

That plus;

• AI comments are getting very annoying!

• The real reason customised invitations are being limited and a cool workaround.

• A very sneaky change to your data privacy settings

• Saved posts feature urgently needs updating

• My take on Public groups

• Profile verification favours men!

• Post of the week

Are you sure you want to be providing LinkedIn™️ with your hard earned knowledge for a badge?

Do the benefits of collaborative articles add up?

That plus;

• An update on the revamped Services section

• A voice message tip

• Sales Navigator improvements

• New profile photo feature

• Another new 'Pay to spam' feature update

• B2B Deep sales playbook. Useful or a Sales Navigator ad?

• Are LinkedIn Corp' Sales professionals using LinkedIn™️?