This week, I found myself reflecting on something unexpected.
Not in a boardroom.
Not in a coaching conversation.
But walking through the Westwood/Kawakubo Exhibition at the NGV.
Two designers.
Both challenged conventions.
Both refused to simply follow what already worked.
Rei Kawakubo once said:
“New values can only be found inside you… not this and not that.”
Vivienne Westwood believed:
“My clothes have a story. They have an identity. They have a character and a purpose.”
And it made me pause.
Because in organisations, we reward what is proven.
But visibility… often comes from something more personal.
From something that can’t be standardised.
Something that comes from within.
The reliability paradox
In organisations, reliability is rewarded.
Be consistent.
Deliver.
Support others.
Hold things together.
And many people build their careers on exactly that.
They become:
→ the safe pair of hands
→ the trusted operator
→ the one who always comes through
But over time, reliability becomes expected.
And when something becomes expected…
it often becomes less visible.
When reliability becomes reputation
At senior levels, reliability is not just behaviour. It becomes identity.
You become known as:
• the one who can be trusted when things are at risk
• the one who steps in when complexity increases
• the one who carries what others don’t
That reputation builds influence.
It strengthens credibility. It opens doors.
But it can also quietly shape expectations.
What becomes invisible
Over time, something subtle shifts.
The work you do becomes part of the baseline.
The risks you manage are never seen.
The tension you absorb is rarely visible.
The decisions that prevent escalation go unnoticed.
Because success, in your case, looks like: nothing happened.
And in most systems, nothing happening is not something that gets measured.
Why this matters now
For many leaders, this becomes most visible at career inflection points.
When you begin to ask:
• What do I want the next chapter of my leadership to look like?
• What do I want to be known for going forward?
• What am I no longer willing to carry?
Because the reputation built through reliability... can become the very thing that makes change harder.
A pattern worth naming
This is what I’ve come to think of as:
The Reliability Paradox.
The more dependable you become,
the more your contribution can disappear from view.
Not because it matters less.
But because it is working exactly as intended.
A small but important shift
What I took away from the exhibition wasn’t about fashion.
It was about authorship.
Kawakubo spoke about a process of elimination, “not this, not that,” until something true emerges.
And perhaps that’s the invitation for leaders too.
Not to do more.
But to become clearer.
Clearer in what you stand for.
Clearer in how you see things.
Clearer in the value only you bring.
A leadership reflection
This isn’t about doing less.
And it isn’t about stepping away from responsibility.
It’s about becoming more intentional. A little more you, visible.
Where are you being reliable…at the expense of being seen?
And what might shift if you allowed more of your thinking, your perspective, your identity to be visible?
Looking ahead
Next week, I’ll explore what happens when this pattern continues.
How reliability, left unexamined, begins to accumulate.
Not just as responsibility.
But as something heavier.
The Invisibility Tax.
If this resonated…
You may be at a point where being good at what you do is no longer the question.
It’s about what you want to be known for next.
I’d love to hear what that looks like for you.
Many of the leaders I work with reach this realisation not when things break but when they begin to question what they are known for.
Till next week,
Mary