The Visibility Trap: Why Being Seen Isn’t the Same as Being Positioned
Imagine two employees. One speaks at every industry conference, has a recognizable name in trade publications, and shows up in the company’s marketing materials. The other rarely leaves the building, but three people who sit in the room where promotion decisions get made can describe, in specific terms, what problems she solves and what she’s fixed this quarter. When a leadership seat opens, which one gets the call? The uncomfortable answer, according to a growing body of workplace research, is usually the second person — and the mismatch between effort and outcome is one of the most common misreadings of what actually drives advancement.