There’s a piece of advice I’ve spent a while giving some clients, and when I say it, their face changes.
Post less.
It’s strange, because I’m supposed to work helping people build a brand, position themselves, be seen. And suddenly I tell them to show up less. Almost always they go quiet for a second, and then the same question arrives in different words: but then, how are people going to know I exist?
It’s a fair question. And the answer weighs more than the question.
In short (TL;DR)
- Sometimes the best brand move is to post less, but only if there’s built judgment underneath. Without that, going quiet isn’t mystery, it’s disappearing.
- Producing has become free and attention is rented; the one thing you can’t generate is judgment. (The idea is Oana Leonte’s.)
- The silence of Rick Rubin or the Olsen twins isn’t their strategy, it’s what they can afford because the strategy (decades of judgment and work) is already done.
- Going quiet with proven judgment is authority; going quiet without it yet is invisibility. The gesture is the same; what’s underneath isn’t.
- Two kinds of people arrive at “I post all the time and it does nothing for me”: the one who over-performs (burying their judgment under noise) and the one who uses silence as an excuse not to expose themselves.
- The way out isn’t disappearing, it’s to stop confusing being present with performing all the time.
Producing is free; judgment isn’t
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and this week I saw it put with a clarity I loved. Oana Leonte, who writes about what she calls the architecture of meaning, put it like this: in 2026 producing is free and attention is rented. The one thing you can’t generate is judgment.
I sat on that sentence for a good while. Because it’s exactly what I see every week, only she says it from brand theory and I live it from the inside, sitting across from the person.
Two who didn’t show up more
Let me set the scene with two examples you probably know.
Rick Rubin can’t play any instrument. He can’t read music. He doesn’t know how to use a mixing desk. And he’s one of the most important producers of the last four decades. When he was asked on television what exactly he gets paid for, he didn’t play modest. He said he gets paid for one thing: the confidence he has in his own taste and his ability to say what he feels.
The Olsen twins have run The Row since 2006 with not a single ad, no personal social accounts, no phones allowed at their shows. Guests are handed paper and pen. Almost nothing leaks. And in 2024 they sold a stake in the company, with the families behind Chanel and L’Oréal among the buyers, at a valuation near a billion.
Two cases where authority didn’t come from showing up more. It came from having judgment so clear it didn’t need to be performed.
Silence isn’t the strategy
Up to here, the easy reading would be: so go quiet, play mysterious, be the best-kept secret in your field. And it’s a lovely idea. But if I stop there, I’d be deceiving you. Because this is where my work forces me to say something the romantic version of this idea skips.
Rubin’s silence works because underneath there are forty years of proven judgment. The Olsens’ silence works because underneath there are seventeen years of impeccable product before the “quiet luxury” label even existed. Silence, in both cases, isn’t the strategy. It’s what they can afford because the strategy is already done.
And that’s the crux almost nobody says.
Authority or invisibility
Going quiet when you have proven judgment is authority. Going quiet when you don’t have it yet isn’t authority, it’s invisibility. And they aren’t the same, even if from the outside they look alike.
I see it constantly. Two very different kinds of people arrive at the same place, at “I post all the time and it does nothing for me.”
There’s the one who over-performs. People with real judgment, with genuinely good work, who bury it under so much content, so much shown process, so much daily proof of life, that their judgment stops reading as conviction and starts reading as noise. This person I do tell to post less. Not to hide, but so their judgment shows above the volume again. Their problem isn’t a lack of work. It’s an excess of performance covering the work.
And there’s the one who would use “be the best-kept secret” as permission. As an elegant excuse not to expose themselves, not to finish, to call strategy what is really fear. For this person, the advice to go quiet would do enormous harm, because they don’t yet have the built judgment that silence needs underneath to hold itself up.
Telling the two apart is a good part of what I do. And it isn’t always obvious, not even to the person themselves, because both tell themselves the same story. Both say “selling myself just isn’t for me.” But one says it from a judgment that already exists and only needs to stop suffocating. And the other says it from a judgment that hasn’t yet done the work of existing.
Being present without performing
So what do we do with all this if we’re neither Rubin nor the Olsens?
I don’t think the answer is to disappear. I think it’s another one. Stop confusing being present with performing all the time. You can be there, have work, have a voice, without turning every step of the process into a show. Rubin didn’t vanish from the world: he has a podcast with nearly two hundred long conversations, he wrote a book. He’s present. What he doesn’t do is perform the act of creating. And there’s a world of difference between the two.
Three questions to find which side you’re on
Here are three questions to think about where you are, no tricks and no template.
One. Your judgment, is it built or under construction? Be honest. Do you already have a body of work and sound decisions that back your judgment, or are you still forming it? There’s no wrong answer. But the answer completely changes what’s right for you. If it’s under construction, this isn’t your moment to go quiet. It’s your moment to do the work.
Two. When you say “selling myself isn’t for me,” where does it come from? Does it come from judgment suffocating under too much exposure? Or from fear that’s dressed itself up as good taste? The same sentence means opposite things depending on where it comes from. And only you know where yours comes from.
Three. Are you performing the work or doing the work? Look at your last week. How much time went into producing the work, and how much into producing the proof that you’re producing the work? If the second is eating the first, there’s your adjustment. Not in disappearing. In rebalancing.
Before you go
Being the best-kept secret in your industry sounds beautiful, and for some it’s exactly the play. But it’s only a play if there’s a secret to keep. If you’re still building it, don’t hide. Build it first. That silence will come, and it’ll come with weight.
And if you’re on the other side, if you have judgment to spare and you’ve spent years burying it under noise, maybe the best strategy you can take this season is to go a little quiet and let yourself be heard again.
Tell me which of the two sides you see yourself on. Or if you think you’re on one and suspect you’re on the other, which also happens.
Frequently asked questions
Is posting less a good brand strategy?
It depends on whether your judgment is built or still under construction. If you already have a body of work and sound decisions that back your judgment, posting less can give you back the authority that too much content was covering up. If your judgment is still forming, going quiet doesn’t make you mysterious, it makes you invisible: it isn’t your moment to hide, it’s your moment to do the work. The same move means opposite things depending on what’s underneath.
Does silence give authority?
Only when there’s proven judgment underneath. The silence of someone with years of work and sound decisions reads as conviction; the same silence with nothing underneath reads as absence. Silence isn’t the strategy, it’s what people who already have the strategy done can afford. That’s why going quiet works for some and sinks others, even though from the outside the gesture looks identical.
How do I know if my judgment is built or still under construction?
Ask yourself, honestly, whether you already have a body of work and sound decisions that back your judgment, or whether you’re still forming it. There’s no wrong answer, but it completely changes what’s right for you to do. If it’s under construction, this isn’t your moment to go quiet, it’s your moment to do: the silence that carries weight comes later, when there’s a secret to keep.
Is “selling myself isn’t for me” judgment or fear?
It can be either, and only you know where yours comes from. If that line comes from judgment being suffocated under too much exposure, dialing the volume down makes sense. If it comes from fear dressed up as good taste, an elegant excuse not to expose yourself or finish, then going quiet hurts you. The same sentence means opposite things depending on where it comes from.
References
- Oana Leonte, The Creative Power of Invisibility — the article this reflection starts from, and her idea that in 2026 producing is free, attention is rented, and the one thing you can’t generate is judgment.
- Rick Rubin — on being paid for the confidence in his own taste (interview on 60 Minutes, 2023) and his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being.
- The Row (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) — its model with no advertising or personal social media, and the 2024 round at a valuation near a billion, with the families behind Chanel (Wertheimer) and L’Oréal among the investors (as reported in fashion and business press).
Reading recommendations
If you want to pull the thread of judgment, silence and overexposure, three books:
- Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. Judgment and taste as a way of being. The very Rubin from the example, in his best written form.
- Byung-Chul Han, The Transparency Society. On the compulsion to expose everything and what gets lost when you perform yourself nonstop.
- Steven Pressfield, The War of Art. On doing the real work instead of performing that you’re doing it.
* The book links use my Amazon affiliate: if you buy through them, I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.