AI & LinkedIn: Practical Tools for Business Growth with Al Kushner

Hi, welcome to the behavioral profit, the podcast

where leadership behavior meets bottom line results.

I'm your host, Debbie Longo, executive behavioral

coach. Each week we unpack the mindsets, habits

and cultural shifts that turn teams into high

performing profit driven powerhouses so you can

lead with purpose and win with people. Joining

me today is Al Kushner, an award winning author.

and sought after LinkedIn growth strategist,

renowned for his innovative approach to digital

networking. His groundbreaking book, The AI LinkedIn

Advantage, has transformed how professionals

and businesses level artificial intelligence

to optimize their LinkedIn presence, grow networks

and drive meaningful engagement. Al's expertise

in blending AI -driven strategies with actionable

insights has made him a trusted advisor and thought

leader. empowering countless individuals to achieve

measurable results on the platform. Good afternoon

now. Welcome to the show. Good afternoon, Debbie.

Glad to be here. What is your area of expertise

or main focus? What topic or area do you focus

on professionally? I would say the most topic

that's in demand for me is about leadership,

particularly thought leadership is something

that I find a lot of the organizations reach

out to me to talk to the members and AI. technology

has been something that's been on the forefront

of people and on top of mine. So that's been

really something that's been my focus. So I know

that AI has been people think anyway, that it's

really been taking over in place of humans doing

things what what humans normally would do. And

now AI is making everything a lot faster. but

I think that it's helping people rather than

taking jobs away from them, which is what I'm

hearing from a lot of people because, and that's

why they're a little afraid of AI being in that

form. What we do here, my podcast is we focus

on behavior and the leadership, but how do I

understand That AI is not going to take my job

away from me. How do I be able to go to work

every day with a positive attitude and no, not

only think, know that AI and computers and are

there only to help me, you know, that I'm in

control of that instead of it being in control

of me. Well, I would say that. Look at AI as

a tool that you can use to help you in your job

and your performance. But the fact is, is that

if you don't want to learn AI, you will be replaced

by someone who knows AI and how to use it. So

that's pretty much what it is. So, and I've seen

a lot of this happening in the industry and a

lot of layoffs you might have seen going on with

some major companies and a lot of prerequisites

for people who apply for jobs. I mean, if they

don't know basic AI technology, They're going

to be left out because the competitors are out

there. I mean, and it's amazing. It's actually

being a growth industry itself. There are a lot

of opportunities for prompt engineers, for example,

getting six figure salaries out of school. And

that's incredible. I mean, I wish I had this

opportunity years ago when I graduated. Come

on. But now I look at it from a positive standpoint.

I think it's just helping you do better at what

you do. If you embrace it, it could be very beneficial.

Yeah, I agree with that. I really like the way

you described it and the way that if I don't

want to embrace it and I'm not willing to go

with the change, then there's going to be definite

issues going on. Because then i'm just colliding

with it rather than learning how to work with

it and i think that's anything would change anything

that. That's gonna allow me to change so next

question is what key idea or take away would

you like listeners to remember from your episode

would say that. They should if they're interested

in using linkedin straight strategically they

should look at optimizing the profile and really.

look for ways that will help to enhance their

appearance on the platform. With a lot of them,

they don't really take it seriously for the most

part. They treat it like a resume, haven't looked

at it in ages. They're wondering when they're

trying to get work and jobs that they don't think

people are going to look them up on LinkedIn.

And they are. That's the first thing people go

to beyond business cards. So if you're not embracing

LinkedIn and learning about how to optimize your

profile, you're going to be at a loss. And that's

something that is not a good thing. for any time

who is looking to do business or looking for

job opportunities. So LinkedIn 101, I was always

taught that keep a current if you post once a

month or twice a month. So you have some current

post on there so people know that you're active.

So if I forget about it, then what's going to

happen? It's not going to do anything for me.

People are going to forget about me, too. One

of the things that I like to do on LinkedIn is

I say if they have a milestone, they've been

in a job for a year. I put congratulations, little

things like that. And that just helps me to keep

being exposed where people see my name. They

see that I'm active doing things. And that's

not the only platform I'm on when I focus on

other things, too. Like podcast and stuff, but

social media is really, really, really important.

And that's really the bottom line. So that's

a good thing. So what challenges or transformations

have defined your professional journey? Well,

I would say that the book certainly was a game

changer for me and creating this this book about

AI technology and LinkedIn. I've done a lot more

opportunities on podcasts. and I'm speaking engagements

and such, because it's such a hot topic. So that's

been a real game changer for me. And I'm really

grateful and blessed to be able to provide my

insights to people who want to know what they

can do to help improve themselves on the platform.

That's a big thing. AI is a big thing now everywhere.

And it definitely plays a part in LinkedIn. There's

a lot of different areas on LinkedIn where AI

is there. That's good. So are there any specific

topics, lessons or stories you'd love to cover

during your interview? Well, we certainly don't

have enough time to cover a lot of things on

LinkedIn, I would say, to say the least. But

I think the first thing we should do is get connected

on LinkedIn because you're not connected to me.

And that would be a good starting point right

there. So let's get connected. And then we can

certainly look at some of the things. If I was

looking at a profile, for example, I offer a

free optimization profile worksheet that people,

your listeners can access for free. It's at my

website, linkvantage .com forward slash audit.

And they can have this tool that they can use

to help optimize a profile so they can look presentable

because that's going to make a difference of

them being trustworthy on the platform. Have

a current headshot, which would be great. Professional

image in the background, search keywords for

your profile headline. as well as creating articles,

and most importantly, getting testimonials. That's

crucial in any type of success on LinkedIn. Being

proactive about getting testimonial recommendations

are essential because that's third party endorsements

that you really should take advantage of because

that's definitely helpful. And you gaining trust

of those who you want to connect with. So yeah,

a lot of... A lot of good stuff that could be

covered groups to join on LinkedIn. There's a

lot of great groups that you could part of, which

is important. And underutilized tool called newsletters

that are available on LinkedIn. Do you have a

newsletter that you use? I was going to make

one. I don't have one right now, but I was, I

was in the process of actually doing one. I just

found out about it actually. Well, there you

go. Well, recently I do more than just one newsletter.

I have five newsletters. week and we're all segmented

on different because I work with a lot of, um,

I would say referral partners. I have accountants,

I have attorneys, I have financial planners and

they go out each week and I schedule that in

advance. A lot of times I write them on the weekend

and have it scheduled weeks in advance. So it's

great. And being consistent. Once a week is great.

You'll find that newsletters have such an incredible

reach on LinkedIn because it goes not only in

LinkedIn, you get notified of it, but also outside

of LinkedIn too into inboxes because it has such

a high authority that bypasses spam filters.

So guess what? You're going to have incredible

reach on that newsletter that you send from LinkedIn

and as well as Google searches too, which are

incredible. So it's definitely a tool that needs

to be addressed because it's, it's powerful.

And it goes to the. Your connections that you

have correct it goes to subscribing to your newsletter

so you can have i'm not sure how many connections

that you have. But when you do produce the news

that i believe they get notified that you newsletter

is available. They can subscribe to it and if

they do when you send it on the next one i'll

receive it on just a link then. But outside linkedin

to select which is great so that really interesting

so. The fact is that there are billions and billions

of people on social media and especially LinkedIn,

because we're doing B2B, obviously, but B2C also.

So LinkedIn is very important for that type of

thing, what we're talking about here. And I'm

talking about executives, business owners. So

LinkedIn is perfect for this. But even with this.

People say, oh, executives and business owners

don't have enough time for LinkedIn. That's not

true because they're on their phone and they

use it if they're online at a coffee place or

something like that. And I think most people

use social media on their phone more than on

their computer. So when I make my profiles. I

look at my phone and I look at the picture and

how the profile looks to see if it looks okay

on the phone and all these things that we're

talking about the newsletter and putting myself

out there posting current frequently those things

to me are important and also if I can know that

I will get the business or people will subscribe

to my newsletter or People will respond to me

if I'm commenting or posting Then that will happen

if I'm not sure and I'm afraid and I'm doubtful

Then there's an issue that might not happen and

then if it doesn't then I get discouraged So

these are all things to me. It's nice to know

information and have the facts and everything

which is very important, but to me the behavior

and the attitude is the most important thing,

because anything I do, whether it's social media

or LinkedIn or whatever it is, I want to be able

to have a positive attitude and know that thing

is going to work for me before I even go into

it. You're convinced I'm convinced because we

know that it's working for us. But I'm talking

about the person that's listening to this podcast.

If you're listening, and you're unsure about

what we're talking about, then you might want

to do some research, go on the internet, find

out the information, ask a friend who's a business

owner also and who's on LinkedIn, on social media.

And then when we do that, we get more information.

And that allows me, that helps me to become,

to get out of the box. So I could think of different

ways to focus on my business. and to increase

sales and profits like that. So this is just

one little piece of a big pie that will help

me with my business. You made this your business.

I made my coaching and my podcast and everything.

I made that my business. But I want to help people

maybe develop a business or maybe just increase

sales and profits if their company is not doing

good. They could be a big company and they're

not doing good. But they're not meeting their

goals or whatever. So that's the idea to this

podcast. So this was good. I thank you for being

on the show. Is there anything that you would

like to say in closing? No, that my book is available

on Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble. And if

you prefer audio, it's also available on Spotify.

Check it out. The book is one of the great resources.

My website link vantage dot com. You also find

my work. Worksheet as I mentioned before link

vantage .com slash audit help out to my your

profile for your listeners I think will enjoy

that and I appreciate that and have them check

out my podcast the AI authority edge available

on Spotify and Apple Al thanks for steering us

past the surface tactics and into deeper waters

of who we're being You showed that when leaders

recalibrate their inner compass whether through

positive intelligence Their culture and numbers

fall in line. Listeners, if your conversation

made you a bit uneasy, that's the signal to act.

Grow never feels tidy at first. If you found

value here, share the episode with a colleague

who still chases quick fixes. Describe your favorite

platform so you'll never miss an insight. that

turns behavior into profit. I'm Debbie Longo.

This is a behavioral profit where we challenge

the way you lead so your team can win with purpose

until next week. Keep testing your assumptions.

Keep refining your habits and keep turning leadership

into your strongest asset. Al, thank you for

being on the show. Thank you. Appreciate the

opportunity.