Movember in LinkedIn

Another month, another post from our Life at LinkedIn series. This post by Martin from our Chicago office, pulls together Movember moments from our different offices. Movember aims to raise awareness around men's health, specifically cancers that affect men. 

It all started with a question to my manager.
“Scott, What is LinkedIn’s stance on mustaches?”
And his response,
“I would think LinkedIn feels quite positively about mustaches.”
“Good..”

I have heard rumblings in years past of guys growing mustaches for a month, getting together for beers to celebrate their sweet staches, and all the while raising funding and awareness for a cause. But I was too scared of my own facial hair to explore further.
Then with a perfect storm of a lost bet, fast growing interest of those around the office, and initiative from the New York, Chicago, Dublin & Mountain View offices, LinkedIn’s Movember movement was born. Within moments we had a ground swell of support that spread across the organization.

As a volunteer and a person who believes in the importance of donating one’s time or resources, I am well aware that the 18 - 35 male demographic statistically donates the least of either of those items. Movember appeals specifically to that demographic and why wouldn’t it? The mustached heroes of my dad’s generation have all but subsided into softer, less scruffy icons. This is so perfect! It let’s men be men. This cause and movement is for the dads of the world. Those fathers, uncles, brothers, grandfathers that have been or could be impacted at any point in time. This is for them. This is for those of us who have lost someone to cancer. This is for the thought of loosing someone close, someone important to us. Men in general don’t like to admit something is wrong so if we do something as simple as make ourselves and the men in our lives talk to our doctors, we’ve made progress.

I’m a proud supporter of the Movember movement and have been incredibly humbled by the amount of support my colleagues and friends have poured into this cause. It was never a question of “if”, it was a question of “how much”. So far, we've raised nearly USD $28,000. Please watch our videos, support our staches, and I hope next November you’ll make it a Movember!

Support LinkedIn's Team Movember here