EP #094: I Hate Social Media (And I Run a LinkedIn Company)

I hate social media. 

I hate the comparison, the performance, the pressure to project a slightly more polished, slightly more successful version of yourself. 

I've watched executives contort themselves on LinkedIn - adopting a voice that doesn't sound like them, manufacturing enthusiasm for things they don't actually care about - and I find the whole thing uncomfortable.

I say this as the CEO of a company that helps executives build their LinkedIn presence.

And what I've come to understand is that the things I hate about social media - the inauthenticity, the mismatch between what people project and who they really are - is precisely what I'm trying to help leaders avoid.

Discomfort Is a Sign Your Voice Has Weight

Across hundreds of clients, I’ve observed that the leaders who are most reluctant to post are the ones people pay attention to.

These are the executives who resist the hardest, who take the longest to get comfortable, and who are most worried about how they'll be received. And they’re almost always the ones who generate the best response when they finally do.

For instance, I worked with a venture capitalist who’s brilliant and deep. Her perspective on early-stage investing and founder development was genuinely unusual - the kind of earned, specific insight that only comes from years of doing the work well. 

She was also one of the most private, introverted people I've worked with. 

Getting her to write her first post was a project. She was nervous not about the quality of her thinking, but about the act of being visible. About putting something out there, attached to her name.

We worked through it together, and finally, she published her first post - and the response was unbelievable. People who had known her for years said things like "I've never heard you talk about this" and "This is awesome, keep it up." 

Founders who'd worked with her shared the post, and her peers in the VC community engaged at a depth of conversation she hadn't expected. The hunger for her voice - which had been quiet for so long - was clear and immediate.

Resistance Filters for Substance

Many of my clients have similar experiences to that executive, and I think there are a few reasons for it.

The people who resist visibility the longest tend to have high standards for what's worth saying. They're not posting daily observations or recycled frameworks. 

And when they finally speak, they're saying something with substance behind it - something that's been considered, tested, and refined.

Often, these executives are also the most authentic. The leader who finds the whole thing a little uncomfortable isn't going to manufacture vulnerability for engagement. They're going to share something real and meaningful to them, and readers can feel the difference.

Finally, the leaders who have been quiet the longest often have networks that are hungry for their voice in a way they don't fully realize. People know them, respect them, and have been waiting to hear their thoughts. When that leader finally speaks publicly, their circle is eager to respond.

Visibility Is an Act of Generosity

A lot of leaders resist visibility because, like me, they learned to hate social media. 

They've watched other people use public platforms in ways that feel self-promotional and vain, and they've made an implicit equation between visibility and ego. Ultimately, they’ve decided the safest way to avoid becoming “that person” is to stay off the platform entirely. 

That instinct is admirable, but the equation is wrong. When I post on LinkedIn, the primary question I'm trying to answer is not: How do I look? 

My questions are: What do I know that would be useful to someone else? What have I learned - from a difficult conversation, from a mistake I made, from something a client said that transformed my thinking - that’s worth sharing?

That reframe moves the orientation from inward to outward. When you approach LinkedIn that way, visibility starts to feel less like self-promotion and more like generosity.

If you've been reluctant to post online because it seems inauthentic, I'd ask you to consider that your reluctance might be well-calibrated. 

Your LinkedIn silence has been an accumulation of value. You’re gathering your thoughts, and when you finally speak, the response is going to surprise you.

— Justin

Justin M. Nassiri | Founder & CEO
M: 650.353.1138 | E: [email protected]
250 Fillmore St Suite 150, Denver, CO 80206
www.ExecutivePresence.io

Executive Presence specializes in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.