The Myth of Information Overload

(Above quote from Ban-Ki Moon piece on the mission that drives him at the UN.)

Last week, I was at a meeting and the presenter flashed a quote on the screen that resonated with me: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." The proverb seemed to capture what I had seen in my years in media: A great writer could produce massive hits; but sustainability required a team of people acting together. A colleague took the quote, Photoshopped it on a picture she had taken and I shared it on LinkedIn. Within a few days, it had accumulated 430 likes and 26 comments. It clearly resonated.

A few days later, leading HR consultant Josh Bersin wrote a post on LinkedIn called "The Myth of the Bell Curve." His article was a 2,300-word analysis of the dangers of forced ranking inside companies, relying on years of research and experience. That post is now (at time of writing) up to nearly 220,000 views, over 4,000 likes and 800 comments.

If you were to believe in the problem of information overload, those two pieces should have had opposite results. The short triumphing, the long withering. The math is simple: Content supply has exploded (from single Tweets to House of Cards marathons) but the hours for consuming it all has stayed constant. At this point, we should be subsisting on bite-sized bits of content at the expense of just about everything else.

There is no information overload. There is only time wasted with the wrong kind of information. In a social world — you should be able find and follow — and create — exactly the information flow you want. Part of the way that happens is through smart algorithms matching readers to content and people to follow, part through individuals building the network they want hear from.

Get that matching right and the content can flow in any form. What we see here every day is that professionals want a mix: the right inspiration at the right time or at the right length for them. A quick quote sparks an idea for dealing with a colleague; a long read provides the context someone needs to launch a new product. Sometimes you need to get into the weeds; sometimes all you need is to skim and offer a quick "like." Other times, a long read can be even more powerful summarized with a simple outtake (such as with the Ban-Ki Moon quote at the top of this post.)*

Today, dozens of new, top Influencers are debuting on LinkedIn, providing exactly that kind of mix for LinkedIn's 277 million members. And tens of thousands of members are joining them, broadcasting to their own networks. The result will be an acceleration of the constant stream of tailored information: What you need to be more successful, to stay on top of what's happening in your industry, to help define yourself or to help you move toward your professional goal.

Some of the highlights from our new Influencers:

• "Mr. Fix It" Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan and Renault and chairman of leading Russian auto maker AvtoVAZ, explains the change coming in autos, driven by new demand, new technology and shifting demographics. He calls on regulators to assist: "With the help of policy-makers providing clear regulatory oversight, these technologies could lead to 'zero fatality' roads within our lifetimes."

• Susan Lyne, CEO of the Aol Brand Group, details her struggles with the "f-word" — fear — and the realization that she'll never escape it: "Fear is not something you grow out of. It is an active part of everyone’s professional and personal development."

• In "My Goldman Sachs Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (and Why I'm Grateful)," Vanity Fair contributing editor Bethany McLean talks about the amazing lessons she learned — about herself and about attention to details — from working at the investment bank. Not that she'd ever go back.

• Pfizer CEO Ian Read writes about how easy it is for a company like his to lose the respect it has built up from consumers, governments, health care providers and more. There's only one surefire way to build a reputation and keep it from breaking, he says.

• James Gorman, the CEO of Morgan Stanley, explains why the bank is focusing so heavily on sustainability — not just sustainable investing. Anyone who thinks it's someone else's job is ignoring all of the trends. Interesting read for those in and out of financial services.

• And Joe Robles, the CEO of USAA, lays out the case for why American businesses have to think more strategically about hiring the one million veterans who are entering or about to enter the workforce. "As someone who traded a uniform for a suit in 1994 after 28-plus years in the Army, I can tell you that finding the right career poses a greater challenge," he says. There are solutions for meeting that challenge, but they aren't simple.

There are hundreds more Influencers to follow. Layer on the writing and sharing being done by your network and your peers and you've got enough information to be inspired and to stay informed every day by the people you care about, whether that means reading, browsing, creating or sharing.

(NOTE: Edited to reflect some of the great feedback in the comments. Thanks in particular to Gamma 2 Rockets' Jim Gunderson.)