Chris J. Reed, also known as “the only CEO with a mohawk”, was the latest guest on the EMEA Recruitment podcast. We spoke to him about his content marketing work with leaders on LinkedIn.

“I don’t have to wear a suit to get their attention or win their work.”

From his home in sunny Singapore, Chris told our Founder, Paul Toms, and Senior Consultant, Jenny Callum, about making the move from Newcastle – via London – to Asia. It was the fact that he didn’t know anybody in Singapore that led Chris to start using LinkedIn. In fact, he got his first three jobs there through the platform.

Chris founded Black Marketing to help other people become rock stars on LinkedIn, as he found that no one was doing it – or, they didn’t have the time.

His signature mohawk hairstyle has become an ice-breaker for Chris in a conservative country – even Jenny found him by searching “mohawk” on LinkedIn!

Chris was recently praised for bringing a different type of diversity to business, which he puts down to his confidence and authenticity. It’s a top tip that he gives to other people; believe in what you’re doing and people don’t care what you look like.

Chris has inevitably had some difficult moments to overcome – listen to the full episode for his story about finding himself on the front cover of a Singaporean tabloid! – but his positivity has enabled him to create a business that continues to grow six years later.

We asked him for his top tip for mastering LinkedIn, so, if you haven’t read his book, you can learn from Chris’ experience on the EMEA Recruitment podcast.

Chris also revealed his musical guilty pleasure – it’s one for the 80s kids out there!

You can use the timestamps below to find the section you’re looking for:

02:05 - How Chris got started/moves to London & Singapore 
05:00 - The Only CEO with a Mohawk
07:10 - Diversity/being yourself on LinkedIn
08:30 - The importance of LinkedIn
10:00 - Taking advantage of uniqueness/authenticity 
12:20 - Importance of confidence/personal happiness
16:10 - Falling foul of a Singaporean tabloid/name recognition
21:30 - Accolade most proud of 
23:25 - Main area of focus in Switzerland
24:45 - Switzerland & Singapore commonalities
27:00 - Writing books & LinkedIn content marketing 
29:20 - Key tips on LinkedIn Mastery for Entrepreneurs 
31:50 - LinkedIn rewarding authenticity 
32:45 - Quality over quantity when using LinkedIn
35:40 - Chris’ two desert island items and his love of music
37:50 - Chris’ ideal podcast guest 
40:20 - Connect on LinkedIn

You can listen to the full episode here:

Or at: https://emearecruitment.libsyn.com/emea-recruitment-podcast-episode-58-chris-j-reed-the-only-ceo-with-a-mohawk

You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b2bsocialmarketing/

We hope that you enjoyed this content marketing episode of the EMEA Recruitment podcast.

The podcast is brought to you in partnership with Operation Smile, and is hosted by Paul Toms and Jenny Callum.

To find out more about EMEA Recruitment, visit: https://www.emearecruitment.com/

You can follow us on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emea-recruitment-limited/

Connect with Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paultoms/

Or Jenny: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennycallumemea

If there are any topics you’d like covered in the EMEA Recruitment podcast, please contact us on LinkedIn and we will look to help.