A man remains in a critical condition today, after inadvertently posting on LinkedIn about an everyday experience that happened to him, without drawing out the broader leadership, management or learning takeaways that came from the encounter.
Mike McBride, regional Sales Manager at online car supermarket company AutoComplete, carelessly posted this morning about his busy Monday morning rush-hour commute on the Northern line Tube without adding anything about the important life lessons it had taught him.
'I don't know what I was thinking, it all happened so fast', said McBride, still severely dazed and confused. 'All I remember is I started penning a LinkedIn post something like 'One hour to get from home to the office today - got a busy week ahead'.
'Of course, I meant to follow it up with something about how no-one was looking at each other or talking, and wasn't that a shame that all those opportunities for collaboration, random connections, or small bits of kindness were being missed', continued McBride.
'I had a quote from Dale Carnegie to add in, and was going to tag the guy off of Dragon's Den who does that podcast where he shoots shit with business leaders, but I pressed Post too early', said McBride. 'It was like it was happening in slow motion. I screamed and tried to undo the post, but the comments were already pouring in about similar journeys but with loads of stuff about the valuable insights it had provided. I felt really faint, passed out at my desk and ended up in an ambulance'.
McBride is expected to make a full recovery, although he will need to undertake 10 uninterrupted hours of doomscrolling through his LinkedIn feed before being allowed to post again. Colleagues of McBride remain concerned however.
'I mean I'm glad Mike's going to be ok, but it isn't the first time its happened', said one colleague. 'Last week he posted something about ordering his regular latte from Starbucks and how the Barista remembered who he was and drew a little smiley face on his takeaway cup alongside his name. Obviously an open goal for a commentary on how good customer service in the hospitality sector is built on that kind of awareness and building of social capital, but Mike literally said nothing about it. Nada.'
'If he doesn't start his next post with something about what he learned about what his recent visit to A and E taught him about teamworking, I'm going to be really worried...'
