Stop Playing Humble. It’s Not Helping Anyone!

The Lie: “Let Your Work Speak for Itself”

This phrase has been weaponized against high performers - especially women, people of color, and anyone who doesn’t fit the dominant mold of leadership. We’re told that modesty is a virtue, that talent will “rise to the top,” and that recognition will find us eventually.

Here’s the truth: your work is silent. It doesn’t send emails. It doesn’t walk into the meeting. It doesn’t raise its hand in the room where decisions are made.

If you're waiting for someone to notice your brilliance without you ever pointing to it, you're not being noble - you’re being strategically invisible.

Action: Write down your top 3 wins from the past quarter. Then ask yourself: Who knows about these? If the answer is “just me,” you’ve got work to do.

Humility is Not a Strategy

We confuse humility with silence. But the two aren’t the same. You can be deeply humble and unapologetically vocal about your value. In fact, you should be.

Staying quiet doesn’t make you a team player, it makes you a ghost.

When you don’t advocate for yourself, you send a subtle message: I don’t matter. My work isn’t worth noticing.

That message compounds. Over time, you get passed over for projects, promotions, and opportunities because no one knows what you’re capable of. Not even you.

Action: Start a “Wins” folder. Document every accomplishment, shout-out, milestone, and metric. When it's time to advocate for yourself, you'll have the receipts.

 Visibility is Power

The people getting ahead? They’re not always the smartest. Not always the most experienced. But they are visible.

They’re in the right rooms, saying the right things, at the right volume.

Visibility isn’t vanity it’s currency in any high-stakes environment. When you show up and speak up, you position yourself as a leader. You shape perception. You drive influence.

Action: Make it a weekly habit to share your work. That could be a team update, a Slack highlight, a LinkedIn post, or a lunch with a senior leader. Visibility takes intention.

Bragging Isn’t a Dirty Word

Let’s reframe “bragging.” What if it’s just storytelling with evidence?

You’re not flexing, you’re clarifying your impact. And clarity is a gift to your team, your org, and your career.

If you don’t tell your story, someone else will - usually with fewer details, less context, and no receipts.

Action: Practice your “impact statement.” Something like:
“In Q2, I led a cross-functional team that improved retention by 18%. Here's how we did it…” Get used to saying it. Post it. Pitch it.

This Isn’t About Ego - It’s About Legacy

This isn’t about being performative. It’s about being intentional. If you want to build a lasting career, brand, or business, you can’t afford to be forgettable.

You want people to say, “She always delivers.”
“His presence changes the room.”
“They’re the one who made it happen.”

That reputation doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.

Action: Set a bold goal for the next 90 days:

• Get featured internally

• Speak on a panel

• Pitch your team’s results to execs

• Launch that personal brand project

Then reverse engineer the visibility needed to make it happen.

Final Word: You Weren’t Meant to Blend In.

The world doesn’t need another quiet genius.
It needs more visible powerhouses especially ones who’ve been told to wait their turn, be polite, or “just be grateful.”

So take up space.
Brag better.
Be undeniable.

Your silence doesn’t serve you.
Your voice might just change everything.