Let’s start with a little provocation: “LinkedIn is a global directory of everyone who has signed the contract of self-enslavement”. It’s chasing dopamine (like TikTok), but for something less passive (work).

That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the longer you think about it, the more true it seems. To put it bluntly, I’ve never understood the point of a “career platform” that appeals to everyone and makes everyone feel like they’re pursuing a career. But don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to pursue a career.

When I began to think about reasons for pursuing a career, I came up with the following three:

1. You have to prove yourself to someone else (usually your parents, most likely your spouse)
2. You need to earn (more) money.
3. Your career is the story you tell yourself about your life; it is your own narrative (in the best case, this boils down to the question: “What do I really want from life?”).

There might be more (I’m curious to find out!).

My take on these three:

1. If you pursue a career to please your parents, think about your relationship with them. For your spouse, think about what love means to you.
2. This is a case of self-enslavement. Although LinkedIn makes the work process more transparent, everything becomes more competitive and less lucrative. You’re now competing with everyone on Earth for the limited number of extraordinary money and job opportunities (we all want more money). Most people will lose, and most people will not get the kind of career they initially wanted. They keep chasing – another one will come. This is also when people start making up job titles.
3. Answering this question doesn’t require a platform; otherwise, you start defining your career by comparing yourself to others, which is a self-defeating game.

Personally, I would always choose the third reason. In fact, I would argue that more people should think about the third reason. But answering the question of what you really want from life is not easy. Why couldn’t a career be defined by forming personal, genuine, and loving relationships with the people you care about? It should be possible to make enough money to do that. Why is it that you’re going to start a company? To be clear, the third reason explicitly includes the possibility of deciding that someone’s primary life purpose is to make as much money as possible.
But honestly, I think most people play the first or second reason, but believe they’re playing the third game.

Lastly, I think this is a smart move by Microsoft. (If you’re a conspiracy theorist: it might work better than the COVID-19 vaccines 😉) Given their size, I think Microsoft is an extraordinarily well-managed company! However, from a societal perspective, I think LinkedIn is an incredibly toxic platform — perhaps even more dangerous than “evil X” or “terrible Facebook.” But that’s the thing about self-enforced slavery – you have to justify it to yourself.

Ah, and if you need attention, I would go for X. I am very happy with X. For me X’s vision of the platform is more aligned with my values too. You can find me there as @geroembser.