April reminded me of the unexpected power of random conversations. Some of my most energizing insights sparked from casual chats, unexpected introductions, and chance encounters. There’s a joy and a richness in letting conversations unfold without a strict agenda, and this month reinforced for me that often, the best learning isn’t scheduled—it’s discovered.

Visibility is not a reward for good work. It is the work.
It is not a postscript to execution. It is part of the job description.

Far too many mid-career professionals continue to treat visibility as a peripheral or even distasteful practice—something to be endured on the way to promotion, or justified only as a means of “letting others know” what’s been accomplished.

That mindset is not only outdated—it’s self-limiting.

 

In modern leadership, visibility is not a side effect of success—it’s a strategic lever of leadership itself. Why?

Because the higher you rise, the more your value shifts from doing the work to shaping the environment where others can do their best work. That requires:

Communicating vision and intent,

Representing the work of others to broader audiences,

Building alignment across stakeholders and silos,

Earning trust and attention beyond your direct span of control.

 

All of these are visibility functions.
They require you to show up, speak up, and stay on the radar of those whose decisions affect your team, your resources, and your future opportunities.

To lead without visibility is to be strategically absent from the rooms where influence is exercised and resources are allocated.

To be “low-profile” at the senior level is not a virtue. It is a liability.

Of course, this is not a call to perform, posture, or self-promote. True visibility is not ego-driven. It is value-driven. You’re not showing up to be seen—you’re showing up so others can see the impact, direction, and priorities you are championing.

 

This is especially important in today’s matrixed, hybrid, fast-moving organizations where:

Leaders are expected to scale their influence beyond their function,

Decisions are distributed, and attention is scarce.

In such environments, leaders who wait to be invited into visibility will be overlooked.
Leaders who intentionally make their contributions visible—and the contributions of others—earn trust, build followership, and create organisational momentum.

So let’s be clear:
Visibility is not a signal that you want promotion.
It’s evidence that you are already acting like a leader.

And the organisation needs more of that—not less.

This month, I’ve had the privilege of working intensively with leaders across continents as they navigate how to communicate with their people in response to the global economic uncertainty. The questions have varied—about risk, resilience, fairness, strategy—but a common thread has emerged: how to communicate with integrity when the stakes are high and clarity is elusive.

In these moments, I’m reminded of John Blakey’s book Where Were All the Coaches When the Banks Went Down? It was published in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis—at a time when I was still working in banking myself. The book asked a provocative question: where were the voices of challenge and conscience while the world’s financial systems wobbled under the weight of their own excess?

Fifteen years on, the question still resonates. Are we as coaches doing enough to support—not just the performance of leaders—but their values, their courage, and their moral clarity in times of pressure?

I’ve seen leaders reaching out, not just for comms support, but for real-time thinking partnership. Asking not only what should I say? but what do I stand for? And how do I say it in a way that people will actually believe?

This is the work of coaching that blends backbone and heart. And it’s why I believe John Blakey’s message remains as relevant today as ever: we are not here to smooth things over. We are here to help leaders stand taller—especially when the world is watching.

We’ve all been taught the so-called “ice cream sandwich” approach to giving feedback:

It sounds reasonable. Kind, even. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: this approach is more about easing your discomfort than driving their development. And worse—it’s not supported by how people actually process information.

 

Enter the Serial Position Effect.

Psychological research tells us that when people are presented with a list of information, they tend to remember:

The beginning (primacy effect), and

The end (recency effect),

But often forget the middle.

 

So, when your constructive feedback is sandwiched between two scoops of positivity, it risks being the very thing they forget. You walk away feeling like you’ve ticked the box of feedback delivery—meanwhile, they walk away thinking, “They said I’m doing fine.”

 

I’m developing a new course on Transformational Leadership, and I’d love your input. Leadership is personal, and topics like vision, motivation, inspiration, role modelling, and individualized concern mean different things to different leaders. What challenges have you faced? What questions should we explore? The best learning happens through shared experiences, and I want this course to reflect the real issues leaders navigate every day. If you share your thoughts, I’ll thank you with free access when it launches in June. Let’s shape something meaningful together—what’s one question about transformational leadership that’s on your mind?

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