Be the Person Who Replies

Are we becoming too quick to ignore messages?

With inboxes overflowing and spam at an all-time high, it’s easy to hit delete without a second thought. But behind so many of those messages is a real person—someone who may be asking for help, seeking mentorship, or trying to land a job in a tough market.

In this week’s Two-Minute Tip, I’m sharing a gentle reminder: your quick response (even a “no”) can make a world of difference.

You’ll hear a story about a friend currently job-hunting and how discouraging it’s been to send thoughtful outreach messages… only to hear nothing back. It’s a leadership nudge for all of us: let’s bring dignity, kindness, and humanity back to our inboxes.

💡 Challenge for today: Open your inbox or LinkedIn messages and respond to the notes waiting for you—even if the answer is a kind, clear “no.” Your thoughtfulness matters more than you know.

• Read the video transcript

  Okay, quick question for you.

  How good are you at responding to messages, messages in your inbox, messages on LinkedIn? And how often do you just ignore or click delete?

  I think because we receive so much spam these days, we are conditioned now to just delete without responding. But the truth is there's oftentimes a real person on the other end of that, somebody who needs our help, who's genuinely reaching out, who maybe spent a good half hour crafting that message to you and how hurtful to not respond.

  I have a friend right now who is searching for a job and the job market is tough, and it's astonishing to hear how few responses she's receiving to these personal reach outs that she's sending.

  And so I want to encourage you, if you receive a message from somebody looking for a job, you receive a message from somebody interested in an informational interview with you, interested in seeking out mentorship... Whatever it is, even if you're not interested, would you at least just respond with a couple of sentences letting them know you received their message and it's not the right fit for you right now? Let's show some dignity. Let's be thoughtful about the human being on the other side of those messages.

  So please go to your LinkedIn messages, go to your inbox and respond to those that are waiting for you.