How To Nail Your LinkedIn About Section
What You’ll Learn in this Issue
- Choose a style that reflects your personality and positioning, whether story-driven, positioning-led, mission-led, or expertise-led.
- Write in a natural, first-person voice that sounds like you, rather than a polished third-person biography.
- Make it easy for readers to understand what you do, why they should trust you, and how they can connect with you.
For something that's only a few paragraphs long, the LinkedIn About section is surprisingly tricky to get right.
How much should you say? What should you leave out? And how do you sound like yourself without sounding like everyone else?
In this issue, we'll explore a few simple principles that can help you write an About section that's clear, memorable, and authentic.
Third-Person Narration Isn't Ideal
Many people try to make their LinkedIn About section sound like the back cover of a book by writing it in the third person.
More often than not, it feels disconnected from the person behind the profile and makes the account seem managed rather than personal.
Unless you're someone like Bill Gates or Sundar Pichai, you probably don't need to write that way. Even they use only a subtle third-person voice.
At the same time, it doesn't have to be filled with "I" in every sentence either. Aim for a balanced, natural voice that still feels like you.
Different Styles of About Sections
There is no one format that works for everyone. Choose a style that best reflects your personality, goals, and positioning.
Story-Driven
Focuses on the person's journey, key decisions, and experiences before leading into what they do today. Ideal for founders and people with unique career paths.
Positioning-Led
Clearly explains who the person helps, what they do, and what they are known for. Best suited for consultants, executives, and service professionals.
Mission-Led
Centers around the problem the person or company is trying to solve rather than the individual.
Expertise-Led
Highlights experience, domain knowledge, achievements, and specialization without reading like a resume.
What’s the Default
Regardless of the style, every strong About section should:
• Sound like the person behind the profile.
• Clearly communicate what they do.
• Give readers a reason to trust them.
• Be easy to skim and read.
• End with a natural way to continue the conversation or connect, where appropriate.
Build the framework around the person's personality. Don't force the person's personality into a framework.
Executive Spotlight
Jijin Joseph is the Co-Founder and COO of Lumora and a cybersecurity professional with over 14 years of experience in IT infrastructure and security.
On LinkedIn, he writes about cybersecurity, risk management, and security best practices for SMBs in a clear, business-friendly manner. In one post, he explains how device-code phishing attacks exploit familiar login habits, showing how even experienced professionals can be caught off guard by a convincing fake login page.
For executives looking to communicate deep technical expertise in a simple, business-friendly way, Jijin's profile is a strong example worth following.
Resource of the Week
Readwise is a simple tool that helps you get more value from what you read. It collects highlights from books, articles, newsletters, Kindle, and apps like X, then resurfaces them through daily reviews so important ideas don't get forgotten.
If you're someone who reads a lot but struggles to remember what you read, Readwise is well worth exploring.
Coming Up Next…
People scroll LinkedIn on weekends too, yet posting on weekends somehow feels like too much. In the next issue of North Star, we'll explore this more.
Till then, clarity is more memorable than completeness.
