Flink Linkedin Headline

---
name: flink-linkedin-headline
description: Drafts five LinkedIn headline options built from your positioning, with the buyer search words behind them, a read-aloud test and the one you pick. Use for "run flink-linkedin-headline", "rewrite my LinkedIn headline", "my headline is just my job title", "headline for a founder", "what should my LinkedIn headline say", "make my headline tell buyers why to talk to me", "headline options from my positioning", part of the Claude Playbook for Authentic LinkedIn Presence Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# LinkedIn Headline

## When To Use
Your headline is a job title and buyers cannot tell why to talk to you. A referred prospect opens your profile, reads "Founder at [company]" and learns nothing about who you help. This skill answers one question: what single line makes the right buyer keep reading?

## When Not To Use
If you cannot yet say what you do in one sentence, run Positioning Statement first; a headline cut from a vague sentence stays vague. If the headline already works and the page underneath reads like a CV, go to LinkedIn About Section.

## Inputs
- Your Positioning Statement (the sentence and its three versions)
- Your current headline, pasted as it reads today
- The words clients used, from your Ideal Client Profile or a few emails and call notes you choose
If you have none of this, I start from your current headline and one recent project you are proud of, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
LinkedIn Help's page on creating a good profile advises rewriting the headline to show an area of expertise rather than the job title it fills in by default (Research checked 5 October 2026). Here the expertise is said in three parts: who you help, the outcome, one real proof point. The judgment is in the first few words, because only the start of a headline shows next to your comments and in search results. The failure it prevents: a headline stuffed with every service you sell, separated by bars, that a buyer scrolls past because it could belong to anyone.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: which version of your positioning you lean towards, which proof point you are allowed to say in public, and whether there is a buyer word you refuse to use.
2. Pull the buyer search words: the nouns and verbs your clients used when they first called, taken from the Ideal Client Profile or the notes you shared. Keep their words over your trade terms; mark any word you supplied yourself as "mine".
3. Fill the three parts for each option: who you help (as a situation or role, never a company type you would rule out), the outcome they get, and one proof point from a real project. No proof you can say in public, the slot stays empty rather than invented.
4. Write five options that differ on purpose: one leads with the who, one with the outcome, one with the proof, one in plain speech, one closest to how you introduce yourself at events. Put the meaning in the opening words of each.
5. Count each option against the limit LinkedIn's editor shows (220 characters at the time of writing); check the counter in your own editor, since the limit can change. Flag any option that needs its end to make sense.
6. Run the read-aloud test with you: say each one as an answer to "so what do you do?" Strike any you would be embarrassed to say to a client's face.
7. You pick one, edit it in your words and paste it into your profile yourself. I keep the runner-up for a later test.

## Output Format
```markdown
# LinkedIn Headline Options
Current headline: [pasted as it reads today]
## Buyer words
| Word or phrase | Where it came from | Theirs or mine |
|---|---|---|
| [word] | [email, call note, project] | [theirs / mine] |
## Options
| # | Headline | Leads with | Proof point (project) | Characters | Read-aloud verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [option] | [who / outcome / proof / plain / event] | [real project or "none"] | [count] | [keep / strike] |
## Words dropped
- [word everyone in your field uses, and why it goes]
## Decision
[You choose the headline and paste it into your profile by [date]; the runner-up is kept for [date].]
```

## Done When
- Five options, each within the limit you checked in your editor, each with its meaning in the opening words
- Every proof point names a real project you are allowed to mention, or the slot says "none"
- Buyer words are marked as theirs or yours
- You have read each option aloud and picked one

## Quality Bar
- No string of services separated by bars, no "helping X do Y" filler with nothing behind it
- Who you help is a situation or a role, never a named person or client
- A client name appears only if that client agreed to it for this channel
- Plain words a buyer would type, not trade jargon
- The proof point is real; Claude drafts options, you choose and edit the profile yourself

## Next
Run flink-linkedin-about-section (LinkedIn About Section) to back the headline up with the page a buyer reads next.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).