It’s impossible to open up Linkedin without someone telling you what you should learn to improve your life from something else completely unrelated to it. These earnest pieces are Linkedin’s version of the selfie – ‘Look! I’ve put myself next to something that’s a bit interesting.’

There is a proliferation of authors who now experience a fairly mundane event, go somewhere or look at a Gumby cartoon through the prism of the vital business and life lessons to be gleaned from it and shared with the Linkedin world. It’s as if the entire contents of an airport book shop’s Business, Motivation and Life Coaching section are attacking you.
Clearly, though, it’s a genre that’s here to stay. To succeed, learn these lessons:

1. When there’s a global event coming up, have your Lessons to Learn article ready to post the minute it finishes.
If you can’t be insightful, interesting or even relevant, you can at least be first.

2. Absolutely everything that ever happens anywhere can be reduced to a short list that will help people to sell more of whatever it is they’re selling.
Struggling for article ideas? How about ‘7 Lessons to Learn from Washing A Dog’ (1. Be prepared…2. Invest in the right tools…3. Persistence pays!…and so on). Or ‘5 Lessons to Learn from Changing a Nappy’ (1. Be prepared…2. Invest in the right tools…3. Persistence pays!…and so on). Just think of something…anything…you saw or did in the last 24 hours and you’re halfway there.

3. Talk about the power of teamwork. A lot.
If everyone who talked a big game about what they know about team work actually managed a functional team, there would not be a single job vacancy on the planet. Talk it up, no-one will ever check.

4. Ditto for vision, values and innovation.
Of course nothing just ‘happens’ anymore, it’s always the result of having an amazing vision, impeccable values and innovating like a first-time downhill skier. Go on and on about these three key activities, because the more you say them the more you become them.

5. Talk about lessons learned from your mother, father or child.
This works well if you have something really boring to say, or if you are generally unlikeable. Simply fold a parent or an innocent child into the mix for instant zing.

6. Being a leader is, apparently, everything, and there is no metaphor, analogy or situation too far-fetched to explain how to do it well.

Great leadership lessons can be learned from sitting in a kayak, watching Wimbledon, ballroom dancing, Canadian Geese, a trip to the hair salon, a basset hound, Super Mario Brothers, a fortune cookie and, of course, Game of Thrones. The main thing is to try and be original – something like Leadership Lessons from a Recluse is ideal.

Good luck and may your traction be long lasting.