What is the #decidetobe kind movement?
For many professionals, including myself, LinkedIn has become a platform to share our stories, brand out superpowers, build community, develop ourselves both personally and professionally, and get our voices back.
However, for some the LinkedIn journey ends way too quickly. For many, the bullying, taunting, trolling, name-calling, and humiliation became too much, and many decided to take their stories and find refuge somewhere else. In other cases, people decided to abandon LinkedIn all-together because the bullying and harassment became too much to bear.
As a huge advocate and major fan of LinkedIn, as well as an anti-bullying advocate, I must bring attention to what often goes unnoticed on LinkedIn but can have detrimental effects.
I will do whatever I can to ensure that LinkedIn remains a safe space for us all to grow and develop both professionally and personally. I owe so much to the LinkedIn platform, and even more, to the global community I now call my LinkedIn family.
As a teen I was a fun-loving, extroverted kid with a Supergirl cape. I loved public speaking and wanted to change the world. All of this stopped one day, when my bully decided to tear me down. It just happened to be right before my speech at a provincial public-speaking contest. I remember standing in my new pair of high heels, grounded in confidence, and knowing that what I had to say mattered. My bully took it all away, paralyzing me with her words. I hastily ran off the stage, losing my left high heel in the process. Humiliated, I not only lost my high heel that day, I also lost my voice as I vowed never to speak in public or wear high heels again.