The Visibility Paradox: When Leading from Behind Makes You Invisible
How founders-turned-executives struggle with recognition in larger organizations.
A lesson I learned the hard way: the leadership traits that make you an effective entrepreneur don’t always translate seamlessly in a larger organization.
As a founder, putting the spotlight on your team becomes second nature. Success stems from developing others, celebrating their wins, appreciating them in public, and working behind the scenes to enable their growth. Your ego takes a backseat to your team’s development—and that’s exactly as it should be.
This approach, much like servant leadership, focuses on empowering others first. But here's the paradox I discovered after transitioning to a corporate role: this instinct to elevate others while staying in the background can sometimes inadvertently work against you.
In larger organizations, visibility isn’t about ego—it’s about ensuring your impact is recognized. When you consistently deflect credit, operate behind the scenes, and focus on enabling others rather than showcasing your own contributions, you risk becoming invisible. Not because your impact isn’t there, but because you’ve become too skilled at making it subtle.
Here’s how this can manifest in day-to-day work:
When you empower team members to lead meetings while you support from the sidelines, presence becomes an unfair proxy for commitment.
When you quietly mentor colleagues and help them succeed, your fingerprints on their growth often go unnoticed.
When you celebrate your team’s wins without contextualizing your role in enabling them, your leadership impact becomes understated.
The solution isn’t to stop being generous with credit or to become self-promotional even though your natural human instinct will tell you so. Sadly, I have been down that road as well. Instead, what I have come to learn is that it’s about finding a balance—one that honors your instinct to develop others while ensuring your contributions are understood.
Think of it like being a film director—take Christopher Nolan, for example. While the actors are in the spotlight, no one questions the director’s critical role in the production. The director doesn’t need to be on screen, but their impact is clear.
I'm still learning to navigate this balance - between staying true to my instincts of elevating others while ensuring my contributions remain visible. The challenge isn't in choosing between the two, but in finding ways to do both authentically.
Perhaps the true art of leadership lies in making your impact visible without dimming anyone else’s light.