Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast as always my name is Alex and I’ll be your host for the next 30 minute free free f-r-e-e-f-r-e free consultation you have with the corporate Cowboys today’s Proof of Life it’s Wednesday March 1st 2023. and if you don’t know by now these 30
Minute consoles are a sorts of uh professional development session that you get for free that you don’t have to pay for you can if you want to you can donate directly to us or you can reach out if you want a private session all of your own right we understand that sometimes
We don’t have that Circle of individuals that Circle of Associates who are also on their path to professional developments that we can bounce ideas off of that we can come to for Council or a consult for strategy for plotting for planning their moves through corporate and having been a corporate Cowboy for about
What’s it been 15 years nah because I’m dating myself now and I still want to I still want to aim for for the younger demographic be aspiring be always aspiring professional let’s save more than 10 years who have been doing this ship for more than a decade
So I’m not new I’ve been around the block a couple times professionally right I’ve been doing it 10 plus years professionally unprofessionally I’ve been doing dirt too so by all means you have questions we got suggestions all right nothing that we convey across in this medium via the podcast via our other presences
On social media should be construed as legal advice none of it none of it right we do not condone any wrongful activity we don’t promote any um illicits behaviors though it could be discussed it could be discussed more so the cons to doing it the cons to participating in it but
But at the end of the day what we want to do is cultivate more corporate Cowboys help you develop yourself professionally ideally we would like to have a circle of Associates who are geared towards a similar objective in life in their careers so today’s question is coming from r slash career guidance
I pull a lot actually most most of my questions off of uh Reddit because they’re questions that for the most part are directed at the general public every now and then every now and then the hypothetical client will give us enough context to go off of enough context that
We might be able to inform uh a decent opinion right a decent opinion obviously if we had the hypothetical client in front of us we would be asking deeper questions we would want as much information as we could possibly obtain in however long we have to obtain it
However long you choose your session to be and um and in that way we’re able to give a better informed opinion and doing so well really it’s your professional decision to act on professional opinions right so we can give you all the motivation we can give you all
The insights we can give you all of the strategies and the approaches and every possible angle but if you are not motivated to move if you are not if you’re not convicted if you’re not committed you are not the consummate professional that you are striving to be right
Because it’s it’s a state of being sure you’re aspiring to be a professional always and in doing so you are the consummate professional in how you act If you’re not striving to do that I mean what good is an opinion you may may as well just be donating your money but but we’re here to help so we can where we are able so if you find yourself in a position where you could use a uh a second perspective
By all means reach out to us we’re on Instagram that’s that’s corporate Cowboys with the Z you can find us on patreon the corporate Cowboys podcast as I’ve mentioned time and time again and you can write to us too snail mailed it P.O box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 right
Today’s question they’re asking they’re asking for advice so uh they’ve flared it they’ve flagged it flared it asking for advice and the question is will a risque social media presence derail or damage a career oh I want to say it can’t derail it it can damage it absolutely yes it can
If you are a professional be a professional if you wanna have a wild social media presence expect wild people in your sphere of influence and sometimes not the kind of wild that you were expecting sometimes not the uh the friendly sometimes not not the friendly wild they’re going to be
Oppositional to you right they may be the the Ops so to speak I myself have some experience in that department from Law School and before so they write here in the body will risk gay photographs on one’s Instagram or other public social media accounts public you
See why are you having your [ __ ] public but at the same time I also had my settings to a rather public setting right so I had my private information private but most of what I posted was public so they’re asking will risque photos on one’s Instagram or other public social
Media accounts have the potential to damage or derail career prospects for instance they ask someone young but who may be on a solid career trajectory in the corporate world posts very risque photos of themselves on Instagram or other social media is this an acceptable practice what do HR professionals or seasoned
Supervisors have to say about this of course what you do on your own time should not affect your day job but if a co-worker finds out and the pictures become a water cooler topic then what question mark can one become first picked for a rif that’s a reduction in force right if
They’re right size in the company and they just start cutting fools off would you be the first in line to be let go would you be the first in mind you wouldn’t be the first in line but would you be the first to be let go because of executive decisions
Can one be looked over for a promotion what are the real world implications and consequences I feel like this has got to be a young person asking right and they’re right they continue they say I am asking on behalf of a friend of a friend who has a 20-something son who graduated with
Honors and snagged a very lucrative job out of college perhaps this kind of social presence is widely accepted now question mark I am not talking muscle picks but very risque dress up but scantily clad pictures well in today’s day and age you might get a [ __ ] medal given inclusivity and quotas
Sorry to be blunt but if the shoe fits and you get blisters walk further how about that or step out of them walk barefoot you got to break those in somehow it says what are the real world implications and consequences this sounds like it’s coming from a
Young person or someone who doesn’t have as much experience in the executive life the executive level or as a professional right because it all depends it depends on context and depends on case if we had a hypothetical client in front of us obviously we would want to review
What it is that they’re posting in case it impacts their professional image somehow beyond that we want to know how they work how long they’ve been uh they’ve been working what experience they have in the past in order for whatever reputation they do have to not
Have been impacted right if they got a very lucrative job it means that their employer or prospective employer because they got a lucrative offer it means their prospective employer has got the resources has got the resources to investigate them has got the resources to do their due diligence and find whether or not
This applicant has a social media presence and what it is that they post right because if they become a representative of the company of the organization I’ve have I signed agreements I think I have signed agreements as far as what type of social media presence you could have I
Think my very first job had something like this about what I could post regarding my job what I could do so it was like a non disclosure but it was a confidentiality confidentiality agreement while you were employed with them non-disclosures typically come up when you’re let go
Or when you leave an employer but in this case it was a confidentiality agreement of what I could post what I could say and for the most part my stuff is uh is private and it’s not like I use it at all mostly I’m on professional
Apps or I use it for business reasons if anything I’ve actually locked down or put my personals on Ice while I manage or help manage the social media for corporate Cowboys so that’s been fun if anything it gets me out of that space it gets me out of that mental
Space where I’m sucked in trying to obtain likes for [ __ ] pictures that I used to post of like I don’t know food that I would eat or places that I would visit or I don’t know a new beer that I was trying right because after a while that
Becomes monotonous and while I do recognize the uh benefits of having a Social Circle I recognize that there is even more benefits to having a professional Circle to making to converting your Social Circle into something strictly professional right now [ __ ] want to do it for clout [ __ ] want to do it for
Attention by all means you do you now you expect it or you want it to not affect what you do professionally that’s where I beg to differ because what you do personally directly informs which do professionally and what you do professionally only bleeds into what you do personally unless you embody it
Completely unless like I mentioned the in the beginning of this episode you are striving to be the consummate professional what you do personally will meet you professionally right so if you’re posting wild content right and you’re somehow exposed you could come across some wild someone from your audience right and
They’re gonna come out to Wild because it’s what they know about you personally they may not know a lick about you and what you do professionally but given your history on social media they’ll approach you from that angle and if you’re you know Lord forbid in the middle of a business lunch
Trying to handle some work and somebody comes out at you from Left Field on just a wild tip you may be taken aback if you don’t know how to mitigate it if you don’t know how to de-escalate or uh convert that energy into something productive that will allow you to not blow your
Cover in business professionally right because if they expose your professionalism as a facade because you’re posting up thought pictures or thirst traps or what have you right which again like I said with today’s inclusivity and quotas for it I don’t know they could give you a participation
Trophy and actually hire you on because I don’t know you’re empowered or you’re brave or something but if you don’t have the chops to back it up if you don’t have the uh the work experience if you don’t have the acumen to support it or to at least allow someone to tolerate it
I don’t give a [ __ ] if you’re a eight nine or a 10 on the Richter scale I’m letting you go I don’t give a [ __ ] because you become more of a liability unless you know how to like stand there and shut up and look like a model right
And just be a model that’s what a model is you’re just modeling you’re just there okay you’re just there being alive in the essence that’s it unless you’re getting paid for that you need to be carrying some bags you need to be carrying your weight
You become a bad person like the rest of us a bagman carrying dirt and getting your hands dirty right in fact so that comes back to how productive you are the type of work you carry out somebody might think I’m handsome my mother says I’m handsome jokes jokes some folks might think that
I’m handsome right but if I’m [ __ ] useless if I’m [ __ ] useless I’m also worthless like what’s what what’s the good in that right real world implications and consequences again I think the real world implication and consequence is gonna be uh whether or not the position that you put your
Supervisor in and I’ve been a supervisor right whether the position that you put me in is going to be one where I have to cover for you there’s going to be one where I have to back you up in your actions right it’s best that you you let me know
What it is that you post because you’re representing me when you’re out there that’s if I don’t invest investigate you or if you have like some some fake insta some finsta where you’re posting under a pseudonym or an alias that’s on you you’re taking that risk if
You get discovered I’m cutting you off easy that’s if you didn’t tell me before right if you told me before and we come to an understanding so be it but but if it comes to light and you are not the type of person the type of professional that merits support
Again it’s just as easy to clip you and let you go you want real world implications and consequences it could be a lucrative job I might be the one paying you right and if you’re fumbling the [ __ ] bag with our clients because of some [ __ ] that you want attention for you
Want hearts or gold stars or whatever the [ __ ] they hand out nowadays you just want clout right you can get plenty of clout in the corporate world but if you want to do it in the easy way the easy way for me is to just let you go
To let you go if the value is not there if if the value exchange is not there right your value as a professional versus your value as I don’t know a thought or a [ __ ] I don’t know a clout chaser sometimes it might not be worth it
Sometimes it is it depends on the professional depends on you is it one of the many overarching themes of this podcast and that it depends on you on how you measure yourself and how you value yourself because professionally speaking if you’re not developing yourself professionally and you’re only developing yourself
Personally you’re you’re chasing hedonistic or uh pleasurable acts right it’ll show again it will show in the quality of your work what you do personally informs what you do professionally and what you do professionally and only bleeds into what you do personally so if you’re not aspiring
To be a consonant professional if you’re not aspiring to consummate professionalism it’ll show and I might Mark you down a couple of points because I’m like well maybe this person is off of their game right but if it comes to light if the reason for this is because you’re [ __ ]
Around and not taking care of business then this business is not going to take care of you I need individuals who take themselves seriously you don’t need to take life serious right because life and death are on opposite ends of a string and it’s a it’s a string that you play that you
Pluck that you know how to resonate or make resonate right but you ought to take yourself seriously when you play with the string you’re born into it you’re born into this corporate War right and sure I’ve made my mistakes also I mean I wasn’t posting for uh for just
Clout I’m not out there flashing money or flashing guns or flashing intimate Affairs or cars right none of that now what you see on the corporate Cowboys feed is typically what I do when I’m not working day to day that’s professional if I could go back
To when I was in my early 20s or before I guess when I had before whenever I had social media whenever I first had social media if I commit myself go back in time and talk to this younger Alex I would let them know exactly that I want to keep this strictly
Professional because it’s what you’re showing in public granted even then I had a again I was a stand-up guy Criminal Mind so I wasn’t I wasn’t flashy flamboyant but I was having fun fun to the point of recklessness Right Where I was sharing personal opinions private opinions even opinions that are not popular
Unpopular opinions hot takes right so the kids call them nowadays hot takes and [ __ ] [ __ ] and wine and they take it up with social media the companies right and uh you get your accounts removed not new to this we’re very well aware of what quote-unquote private companies are free to do right but
I digress let me read uh one or two of these comments here I got a little bit of time and of course I’ll critique them but like I was mentioning as far as real world implications and consequences again the consequences depends on what you’re doing is it good or is it bad
Is it righteous or is it not right because again you could be Cloud chasing for the right reasons if you’re doing it right maybe you’re uh hyping up professional development right a lot of the a lot of the memes nowadays have that vibe to it like I don’t know
Like the alpha or the sigma sure some of it is really extremized and just on on just the far end of of almost being cartoonish and not realistic but for the most part I mean if you’re if you’re minding the stoic material or you pay attention to some stoic teachings and other philosophical
Understandings as to how to conduct yourself in life and in business and in relationships for the most part it’s edifying right for the most part but again there’s rabbit holes for everything so implications and consequences some of them you will see immediately and some of them you will see not so immediately right
You will see direct consequences which is which might be those pictures and the opinions that people derive from them they see a picture of of you scantily clad and risque poses compromising poses right and the opinions formed directly from it could negatively impact your business relations the indirect impact right the indirect
Impact is going to come from what you do on your personal time and how it bleeds how it informs sorry how it informs what you do professionally right it’s the same thing as going off on a weekend Bender showing up on Monday hungover and you’re working like [ __ ] and people notice
Think about that for a sec think about that for a sec but if what you do professionally is is not necessarily by the book but upstanding right if you’re stand up a stand-up professional that’s going to bleed into you being a stand-up person privately stand up guy the Criminal Mind
The first comment here says yeah everything needs to be kept private do not add your co-workers on social media except maybe for that one best friend who you regularly hang out with outside of work and lament with about the job you see even even then they want to keep it
Professional and they include that personal exemption right and that’s still even even then even then what you do with them privately will inform how you work professionally if you go out later for drinks and you [ __ ] about how bad of the job is or or
Kind of a what kind of ass uh your boss is like what kind of what kind of jerk your boss acts like that will inform how you work in the workplace you won’t work to your Optimum level and if the work environment really is to that degree I mean [ __ ] consider a
Change consider changing yourself consider changing your co-worker consider changing your boss consider changing the company you work for so that you improve constantly so that you are on your path so you don’t deviate from it and continue developing yourself professionally yeah keep it all private keep it all
Private except don’t keep it private with the one person [ __ ] it’s the worst advice either you keep it public or you keep a private and that’s it and what you put in public well you accept that risk you accept that risk for what you post and hopefully hopefully that risk tames a
Little bit of the content about what you post I’m I’m tame as [ __ ] I’m tame as [ __ ] have you seen the corporate Cowboys page what’s it about just about professional development nothing else it’s literally not legal advice a second comment here says uh yes it can
Have an impact and don’t only make them private be careful who you add screenshot do makes the Realms screenshots do make the rounds yeah I mean if they were going to report you they’re going to take screenshots so I don’t know these uh these comments are are pretty generalized pretty vague
I think I gave a better perspective I mean I’ve got supervisory experience right so I’ve been I’ve rubbed shoulders I’ve dug trenches I’ve I’ve worked with the troops I mean [ __ ] we all started soldiers and some of us move up right some of us have the
Inclination to move up some of us have the ambition some of us Aspire some of us are just hungry right and I might be all of them but as far as a real world real world implications and consequences I think I gave uh a better perspective than we
Found in these Reddit answers today that being said it doesn’t mean that you can’t add your co-workers you absolutely can add your co-workers if for whatever reason you want multiple accounts consider having one only for privates and one for professional one that you could use to network professionally with
For a time I was I was handling that one to use professionally and one to use personally only one to only uh add family and friends and close acquaintances and the other strictly professional people that you meet in your day-to-day life career life and your day-to-day career life right
And the other just personal just personal if you have any questions you have any concerns by all means reach out to us and if it’s not yourself if it’s somebody you know refer them we would appreciate that we just want to share some of this corporate love you’re born you’re born into this
Into this life I think it’s best you know how to work with corporate so you don’t end up working for it take care of yourself have a nice one
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