LinkedIn: connections and context

I’ve seen several people say they’re very selective about accepting LinkedIn connection requests.

That’s a legitimate choice — but personally I find it quite limiting.

LinkedIn, like life, is full of people at different points in their journey. Not everyone today is who they might become tomorrow.

And not everyone looks “interesting” right away — at least by certain criteria.

The store reel

A while ago I saw a reel that nails the idea.

A man walks into a well-known luxury brand store, arriving in a rented Volkswagen.

He’s ignored, almost snubbed. The next day he returns to the same place in a customized Bugatti Veyron worth about four million euros.

Same person, same face. Only the context changes.

This time everyone rushes to open the door. When he’s there to decide whether to buy, he tells them how he was treated the day before… and leaves without buying anything.

What it reminds me of

Whenever a connection request gets ignored simply because it doesn’t look “interesting enough” right now, that story comes to mind.

Accepting a connection doesn’t cost you time. It’s not a forced coffee date. If you need to filter, you can do it later — when someone starts writing, commenting, sharing a point of view.

Almost everyone

I prefer this approach: I accept almost everyone.

Because you don’t know who you’re looking at, who they’ll become, or what they might bring tomorrow.

A person’s value isn’t only in their title, or the vehicle they arrive in, but in how they think.

And often the most interesting connections come from where you least expect them.