Joshua Graff, Linkedin’s UK Country
Manager
I often attend events at my college, LSE, and sometimes
bring colleagues or friends along. I
attended one such event at the LSE called 'An Audience with Linkedin’ with Joshua
Graff, UK Country Manager & VP EMEA & LATAM.
I thought that Josh’s talk was particularly
appropriate for June, which is gay pride month since Josh is a vocal and active
supporter of LGBT rights as well as being an openly gay man in the workforce.
Initially, Joshua Graff talked about his vision for LinkedIn.
Linkedin’s mission statement is to create economic opportunity for the entire
Global Workforce. Of the 780 million Professionals worldwide, already 610
million have LinkedIn accounts, and that number is increasing rapidly.
Joshua then elucidated some of the more specific aims of the company which revolved around creating value through their talent solutions
business (60% of Linkedin’s revenue), Marketing Solutions, including sponsored
content (20%) and of course Premium Subscriptions (20%).
All this is going to
drive the company forward, particularly now that LinkedIn is part of Microsoft
($26 Billion acquisition by Microsoft of LinkedIn in December 2016).
Joshua moved on to a discussion of values. 50% of employees
would not consider taking a job at a company unless they had visibility into
its culture and what it stands for, so obviously this is important. LinkedIn
espouses compassionate management, which is not necessarily empathy, but rather
being able to imagine what it's like to do your colleague's job.
Josh said that empathy might debilitate you if you feel too
much. However, understanding what, for example, your team members are going
through will enable you to manage them much more effectively. As he put it,
it's the valuable insight of 'walking a mile in someone else's shoes'.
Equally, he talked about Linked in’s culture of
transparency. His discussion of this value was the most potent part of the talk
for me since He shared his own deeply personal story of coming out as a gay man
in the workforce.
When He first came out to his parents, he immediately went
back 'into the closet'. 60% of Millennials and Generation X's in the workforce
do precisely the same. On LinkedIn, He finally published a piece talking about
his homosexuality and embraces that in the workforce today.
This value inspired me. According to research, workers who
are more transparent about who they are, end up as more productive, more
engaged and happier. I know that I'm more comfortable and more productive at
work when I can be myself.
You can find his most recent article, 'Are you out on LinkedIn?’
As well as the first article he wrote on this subject
'Coming out accelerated my career trajectory.'
