I was leaving a successful company that I had launched with a group of friends twelve years earlier, but I couldn’t discuss it openly with the employees since many critical details were still being determined. I dearly loved my co-workers and wanted to ensure that none of the thriving company culture and industry-leading client impact would be lost with my exit. To prepare the team for a future without me, I started to pull back on my regular coaching sessions and encouraged them to lean on one another as they navigated critical decisions and difficult conversations.

It wasn’t fun to be stuck in the doldrums of work, floating on an invisible equator with no current to propel me and no clear timeline of when I’d be sailing again. I felt caged and needed an outlet to continue pouring into others and engaging in the tough stuff that comes with walking the narrow path of an undivided life.

It was three years ago this week when I told my wife, “I’ve had it. Starting tomorrow, I’ll make a daily post on LinkedIn, sharing my knowledge and expertise, and see what challenges, perspectives, and opportunities come my way.”

That moment changed everything for me. I spent my early morning hours with a new routine that included prayer, reading, reflection, and then writing on LinkedIn. I felt my creative energy soar to new heights as the daily writing helped connect the dots between concepts, heightening my awareness of the need for all organizations to make their work more human. Writing each day was a natural way to amplify the gifts that had been given to me and to expand on the experiences that made each coaching concept more accessible to everyone else.

A few months into this process, I finally understood what Pope Benedict XVI meant when he referred to the online world as the “digital continent”. LinkedIn can be viewed as a simple tool for work connections and job searchers, but it can also be understood to be so much more.

To me, LinkedIn became a destination, a community, and a place for encountering others. I found what many content creators already knew – engaging on platforms like LinkedIn with real reflections, thought leadership, and authentic vulnerability sparks new avenues for relationship building and the promotion of human dignity.

Now, thanks to three years of daily posting, I am blessed to spend time each day connecting with people at all stages of the journey. This digital continent has opened the pathway for new friendships, prayer requests, podcast guests, clients, suppliers, and a community of supporters during the hard times that life brings.

The greatest takeaway, however, isn’t about digital interactions at all. Thanks to LinkedIn, countless in-person interactions and relationships have materialized around the world. Last week in Rome, I was blessed to journey with many friends whom I previously knew only through LinkedIn. On a regular basis, I grab a coffee or jump on a call with someone who has been challenged or moved by the content on my LinkedIn. Potential clients reach out to me each week to seek Undivided Life’s assistance with growth initiatives, strategic planning, and the infusion of Catholic social teachings into their businesses because they have already come to know and trust the quality and sincerity of our work.

On one recent occasion, I learned of a family in need of legal help as they sought to complete their second adoption, this time to adopt the sister of the son who had joined their family the year before. The family was poor, and their previous lawyer had not completed the job. I went to my LinkedIn network and within 10 minutes, I was on the phone with a man who engaged with my content regularly, even though we had never met before. He offered his legal services, and I facilitated the connection to get the process started. Praise God.

Thanks to the public battle that our four-year-old son Benny is facing with brain cancer, I am privileged to regularly meet families in similar situations and spend time with them in prayer and reflection, often praying together and supporting one another in a way that is hard to understand from an outsider’s view. I have grown to have an extra special calling to walk alongside the fathers of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. I’ve found that fathers are doing their best to keep it all together, and they are often perceived as not needing as much emotional support, thanks to the tough outer shell. The digital continent, however, has turned LinkedIn from being a tool for networking into a place for deep personal friendships and a search for meaning and truth.

Have you had similar experiences with LinkedIn? Did you find that a platform you previously viewed as a networking tool has aided in your own transformation as a leader inside and outside of the workplace?

Our team uses timeless principles to co-create sustainable growth and human flourishing alongside each of our clients. It is my sincere hope that some part of our digital presence - our LinkedIn content, online classes, podcasts, and more – will lead us into a real-life relationship with you.