There is a whole business built around being seen doing business. Spend a few minutes on LinkedIn and you will quickly notice the familiar cycle: another summit, another panel, another fireside chat, another award, followed by a carefully worded post about being “honoured” or “privileged” to participate. Sometimes the same person manages all four within a week.
I understand why. In financial services, visibility has become part of the product. Investors want to know who is behind a firm, business partners want reassurance that you are relevant, and everyone wants a little social proof. Conferences provide the stage, awards provide the recognition, and LinkedIn provides the audience.
There is a difference between being visible and being valuable. Some of the people I know have never been particularly good at the visibility game. As for me, I am not very active on LinkedIn, do not chase followers and am perfectly comfortable with many people not knowing who I am.
Yeah, perhaps that is not the best marketing strategy you know. I have always preferred spending my time on the business rather than documenting myself doing the business.
The less glamorous side rarely gets posted anyway. There is no photograph for spending a Sunday going through portfolio numbers, questioning an investment thesis or having a difficult conversation with a client. No award for avoiding a bad investment. No applause for deciding that doing nothing is the right thing to do.
I am not against conferences, awards or being visible. They all have their place. However, a fund partner pointed out to me that reputation is ultimately built by what you do, not how often you appear on someone’s LinkedIn feed.
Markets are wonderfully indifferent to all of it. They do not care who was on stage last Thursday, who received the award, or who nobody has heard of. They just keep moving.