Visibility or Substance

Jo dikta hai, wo bikta hai. What is seen, sells.

This is what we're told today. Earlier, it was simpler: your work will speak for itself.

One of the first things I learnt as a trainee engineer at the Siemens Navi Mumbai plant in 1989 was that what you do will be known. Not because you told anyone, but because good work travels. I saw this play out consistently across organisations and over three decades. There were people who did draw attention to themselves, but they were the exception. People who mattered knew.

When I started my consulting practice in August 2023, I carried this belief with me. I was told, fairly quickly, that it no longer works that way. "Unless you're visible, you won't get any engagement." That this is the era of self-promotion. Perhaps there is some truth in that.

But look at what this has led to. CV padding is now rampant, with people making claims that have no basis in reality. Employee background verification has become a large business. We have built an entire ecosystem to deal with the problem of people not being what they say they are.

I still want to believe that good work gets noticed first. That reputation, built over time, counts for more than visibility.

Yes, in a noisy world, being seen matters. But visibility should follow substance, not replace it.

(Published in LinkedIn on 1st March '26)