Hi Reader,
As we are about to wrap up 2025, here's a trend I've noticed consistently over the past few years - but has accelerated in this one.
The people who end up with disproportionate leverage in their careers are rarely the loudest or the most credentialed. They are simply the ones who decided, at some point, to stop keeping their learning private.
Most professionals consume content for decades. Very few ever cross the line into creation. Fewer still document what they are learning while they are still in the middle of it. That last group is tiny. And it behaves very differently from the rest.
A pattern that repeats itself
When you zoom out, the pattern becomes hard to ignore. Roughly:
- Most people watch.
- A smaller group experiments.
- A very small fraction makes their thinking visible as they go.
Most importantly it's not AFTER they have arrived. NOT when the story is polished. But while it is still unfolding.
What documentation actually does
I’ve seen this play out repeatedly.
A client committed to showing up on LinkedIn 3x weekly for a defined period. No reinvention. No viral tricks. Just consistent reflection. She didn’t suddenly become smarter. She became visible. Over time, that visibility compounded into trust, relationships, and influence.
I’ve seen the same pattern with founders who committed early to writing publicly every single day. Not because they had an audience, but because the habit forced clarity. Everyday observations turned into ideas others found useful. The audience came later. The discipline came first.
What the system is really rewarding
Influence today is not primarily a function of talent, access, or originality. It is a function of willingness. Willingness to:
- Be seen before you feel ready
- Articulate half-formed thoughts
- Stay consistent when there is no immediate reward.
Why this matters more than people realize
Most founders and leaders still think of visibility as something you earn at the end. After success. After scale. After permission.
In reality, visibility is increasingly the thing that pulls opportunity towards you.
When you have an audience, even a small but relevant one:
- Conversations start differently
- Credibility is assumed, not argued
- New projects do not begin from zero
The real reason most people stay invisible
The barrier is rarely skill. It’s psychological.
People overestimate the risk of being judged and underestimate the cost of staying unseen. They confuse quiet productivity with progress. So they keep doing good work privately, assuming that quality will eventually speak for itself.
Often, it doesn’t. Doing good work is no longer enough if the work never leaves the room. That shift isn’t obvious yet. But it’s already underway.
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Until next week,
Kaushik (LinkedIn) | Perplexity Fellow
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