The Rolodex

I always wondered about people who had 30,000 friends on LinkedIn. Unlike Facebook, where millions of people with varied interests could subscribe to a celebrity's status or a news source, LinkedIn was supposed to be more professional. In some ways, it was originally more intimate than Facebook, because you were putting your professional reputation on the line to make yourself available as a reference. No more, hasn't been that way in at least the last couple of years since its popularity exploded. Is it going to continue to be a useful tool into the future? If yes, how do we use it well?

I remember explaining to people what LinkedIn was, years ago. "If I know you and you know me, but I don't know everyone you know and you don't know everyone I know, wouldn't it be great to have an organized way to find each other?" Of course! the people responded. I would love to have a great reference to a trusted professional, a potential candidate, a certified expert. Like all great databases, it had one major flaw- there is no way to continuously update it wiki-style. In some ways, that's good. I don't want people to be able to edit my bio, change it, make corrections. But I also know people who have put up a different profile with every job or new city, and others who don't make any changes at all for the years after they put up their original profile.

As of today, I have 1,073 "trusted" connections. Some are coworkers, friends from church, former classmates. Some are clients. Some are candidates I did (or tried to) recruit, some are people I met at cocktail parties along the way and thought they might be useful to me or I to them at some later date. Surely, I would want to have a contact - JUST IN CASE.

I am weeding the garden of my Rolodex. Some of my connections are good friends. I had dinner with one of them tonight. Looking across some of their names, I don't remember all of them. If I do remember them, I'm struggling to think when or why I might need to talk to them or them to me. Tagging is helpful, tagging allows me to quickly glance across a select group of people to let them know who might be interested in a new art event or political opening or who might need to know each.

Introducing people to each other is a great joy of mine. I love connecting people with people, people with ideas, people with jobs. I started recruiting because I became a people hub. Unfortunately, there is only so much mental space to go around. Every day, I make a point to throw away or give away 25 things. The things can be as simple as an old catalog, a candle that I haven't quite burned through, or books I need to give to the library because I won't be re-reading them. They can be clothes, or old towels or misc. junk. And they can be people. People I never really knew, old flames I can't imagine reconnecting with or former clients I have nothing to say to. If I can't write an email to you, why are you in my head?

I love the freedom this is bringing. I am reminded that Jesus had a best friend, two closest friends, and nine others in His most intimate circle. He had infinite opportunities to connect and reach masses and masses of people, but he chose to make a difference a different way. A closer, more intimate way. He chose to pour into people, the right people, the few, the select, the ones he could trust the most. His example is one of true purpose, that despite all of life's distractions, relationships do matter.