Executive visibility creates a strange problem.
Leaders need people to know who they are, what they believe and what their organizations are doing. But nobody wants to hear a CEO talk about themselves all the time.
One of the best ways to resolve that tension is surprisingly simple: give the attention to someone else.
When CEOs and other senior leaders use their visibility to recognize employees, customers, partners and other people doing meaningful work, they accomplish more than giving someone deserved recognition. They reveal what they value, make their organization’s culture more tangible and give people another reason to trust them.
In other words, sharing the spotlight can actually strengthen a leader’s visibility.
Why does recognizing others strengthen a CEO’s reputation?
Think about what you learn when a CEO tells a meaningful story about an employee.
You learn:
- What the CEO notices.
- What kinds of contributions they value.
- What good work looks like to them.
- How they think about employees.
- What makes them proud.
- Sometimes, what moves them personally.
The CEO doesn’t need to tell you, I care deeply about my people.
They’ve shown you.
That distinction matters. Leaders can make any number of claims about themselves and their organizations. Stories about other people provide evidence.
Employee stories make corporate culture visible
Most companies say similar things about culture.
They value integrity. Collaboration. Innovation. Customer focus. Great people.
Those words may all be true. But they’re abstractions.
Stories make them concrete.
Instead of saying your company is customer-focused, tell the story of the employee who stayed late to solve a customer’s problem.
Instead of saying your people are innovative, recognize the engineer who refused to accept the obvious solution.
Instead of claiming your organization has integrity, tell the story of the salesperson who told a prospect your company wasn’t the right fit.
Don’t just tell people what your culture is. Show them who you celebrate.
Over time, those choices tell audiences something important about the organization—and about the leader doing the celebrating.
Public recognition can help attract the right people
Several years ago, I interviewed Dr. Joe Phillips, who was then director of technology for Kansas City Public Schools.
When Joe arrived, his boss asked him to rebuild the department’s credibility and promote his team and their work. Joe took that mandate public.
He began using LinkedIn to celebrate employees and tell stories about the work happening behind the scenes. His goal was to help people understand the human beings doing the work and the impact they were having on students. He described his technology staff as “real people that care about people.”
Then something interesting happened.
Within about 60 days, job applicants began telling Joe they had been following the department’s story on LinkedIn and wanted to become part of it. Outside organizations began contacting him to ask how they could help.
This was a public-school technology department. It couldn’t necessarily compete with technology companies on salaries, prestige or glamorous projects.
But it could offer something else:
The chance to do work that mattered.
And Joe was continually showing people what that looked like.
As he told me, people want to feel that their work has purpose, that it matters and that they contribute to something larger.
That’s more than employee recognition. It’s culture communication.
What should CEOs celebrate?
The possibilities are almost unlimited, but communicators can start by looking for stories in a few categories.
1. Recognize people, not just achievements
Promotions, awards and work anniversaries are obvious occasions for recognition. Don’t stop there.
Talk about the employee who quietly makes everyone around them better. The person who helped a colleague through a difficult week. Someone whose curiosity changed the direction of a project.
Those stories often reveal more about a culture than formal milestones do.
2. Be specific
“Congratulations to our amazing team” is nice.
Naming an individual and explaining precisely what they did is better.
Specificity makes recognition credible. It also turns a generic compliment into a story.
3. Explain why the person matters to the leader
One of the most powerful things a CEO can say about another person is how that person affected them.
What did the CEO learn from them? What surprised them? Why did their actions matter? How did they change the leader’s thinking?
That can reveal humility and respect without the CEO ever having to claim either quality.
4. Look beyond employees
The spotlight doesn’t have to stay inside the organization.
CEOs can recognize:
- Customers doing interesting work.
- Partners making a difference.
- Community organizations.
- Mentors and former colleagues.
- People whose ideas influenced them.
- Individuals they simply want to help.
The principle is the same: who a leader chooses to celebrate tells us something about the leader.
Sharing the spotlight is not a visibility sacrifice
Executive visibility doesn’t require the executive to remain at the center of every story.
Quite the opposite.
A leader who regularly notices other people can become more interesting precisely because their communication isn’t always about themselves.
Employees notice. Customers notice. Prospective hires notice. Partners notice.
The stories a leader chooses to tell signal what kind of organization they lead and what kinds of people belong there.
There’s an old saying: Your vibe attracts your tribe.
It may not be sophisticated communications theory.
But there’s a lot of truth in it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should CEOs recognize employees publicly?
Public recognition rewards the employee while also showing audiences what the CEO and organization value. Specific employee stories can make otherwise abstract claims about culture, values and purpose tangible.
Does executive visibility always need to focus on the executive?
No. Executive visibility can be strengthened when leaders use their platforms to highlight other people. The leader’s choices about whom and what to recognize reveal their priorities, values and character.
What kinds of employee stories work best?
Look beyond promotions and awards. Stories about everyday behavior, customer service, problem-solving, generosity, perseverance and positive influence on colleagues can provide particularly strong evidence of organizational culture.
Can employee storytelling help recruiting?
It can. Joe Phillips’ experience at Kansas City Public Schools provides one example: after he began publicly celebrating his technology team, applicants told him they had followed the department’s story and wanted to become part of it. That is one example rather than proof of a universal recruiting effect, but it illustrates how visible culture can attract people who identify with it.