The Spotlight Syndrome: Why Loud Isn’t the Same as Right
Reading time approx. 5 minutes
Good morning. Let's start this Tuesday together. Because, as always, "It is perfectly possible to be both rational and wrong."
The Algorithm Doesn’t Have a PhD (But It Sure Acts Like It)
Last Friday, I opened LinkedIn with the best of intentions. I was searching for one quiet voice in a sea of noise. Instead, what found me was a post covered in digital confetti announcing yet another “Top Voice” badge. The kind that makes you wonder if they’re being handed out with every oat milk latte.
Recognition feels great. Who doesn’t want a little dopamine with their morning scroll? But by the time I hit the fourth celebration of someone’s ability to generate engagement, I had to stop and ask myself: what exactly are we clapping for?
Is it clarity of thought? Originality? Or just the ability to post five times a week using buzzwords and bold-font carousels?
A friend of mine, definitely not a Top Voice, and definitely not trying to be, posted a wonderfully honest reflection on this very trend. No bitterness. No cynicism. Just a reminder that applause and insight are not the same thing. His post was a quiet kind of brilliance. The kind that doesn’t trend but sticks with you longer than most viral threads. It reminded me that behavioral science has been flagging this trap for years.
How Does It Work? Science, Baby!
Our brains love shortcuts. One of their favorites is the Halo Effect. It’s a cognitive bias that makes us think someone who shines in one area must be brilliant in all others. That’s why someone who looks confident or polished on social media is often assumed to be an expert, even when their actual content is recycled or vague.
This happens even faster online. On LinkedIn, someone with a shiny headshot, a loud title, and a well-crafted profile gets instant credibility. It’s not that they’ve proven themselves. It’s that they look like they belong. And once our brain sees those credibility cues, it rarely stops to fact-check.
This is exactly what Robert Cialdini explained with his authority principle. We are wired to trust symbols of authority. Titles, suits, microphones, even the way someone poses in their profile picture can sway our judgment. Our brains interpret signals, not substance. And signals can be misleading.
When popularity starts acting like a proxy for expertise, we start making decisions based on who looks the part rather than who delivers the goods.
Why This Is Important?
Because when applause becomes more persuasive than accuracy, our collective judgment takes a hit.
Why is it important to deal with the phenomenon of the Halo Effect?
Let me tell you about a workshop I led not long ago. We were talking about building trusted networks and how teams decide which experts to collaborate with. A young marketing manager shared a trending list of “Top 10 Influencers to Watch” and suggested bringing some of them in as advisors. I asked her why those names stood out. Her answer was simple: “They have reach.”
Reach sounds impressive. But reach without rigor is just noise. So I asked her to go deeper. Look into their backgrounds. Examine the actual substance behind their popularity.
She came back a few days later, eyes a little wider, and admitted most of them didn’t have a professional footprint beyond LinkedIn. Some were masters of engagement, sure. But their insights were surface-level. One had a post go viral about leadership principles but had never actually managed a team.
None of this is about shame or envy. It’s about being honest with ourselves. When we equate influence with insight, we start hiring the wrong voices, promoting the loudest opinions, and building strategies around sound bites. The people who are truly experienced often don’t show up in the algorithm because they’re too busy doing the work that doesn’t fit neatly in a 1300-character post.
And when we miss their wisdom, we lose the real edge.
And Now?
And now? Start treating visibility as a prompt, not proof. Next time you see someone with a badge, a massive following, or a flood of clapping emojis in their comments, slow down and ask the harder questions. What is their work behind the scenes? Who vouches for them in real life, not just online?
Try this today: reach out to someone brilliant who rarely posts. Ask what they’re thinking about right now. Dig for insight where the spotlight doesn’t usually shine. You’ll be surprised how often the best thinking hides behind quiet profiles.
Also, if you’re a content creator yourself, challenge your own metrics. Is your best post the one that got the most likes, or the one that made someone change how they work?
Bottom Line
The Halo Effect makes us confuse signals of authority with actual expertise, but the two are not the same.
Checklist for clarity when the crowd starts cheering:
Ask yourself what this person has actually accomplished
Look at their body of work beyond social media
Check who they’ve helped and how, not just how many people liked their last post
Trust your instincts but validate them with evidence
Prioritize quiet competence over loud performance
Reward rigor, not just regular posting
Chief Behavioral Officer wanted
Where are management decisions made every day that are still based on people acting logically? Where can you be a Chief Behavioral Officer yourself this week?
See you next Tuesday.
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