"He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know."

"He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know."

Lao Tzu

We have all been in rooms with that person. The one who mistakes volume for authority. Who promotes themselves flagrantly and without apparent discomfort, in meetings, in corridors, in emails copied to people who didn't need to be there.

And yet the opposite carries its own cost. The talent review cannot assess what it cannot see. The hiring panel cannot reward what you don't tell them. The work that never gets named eventually gets forgotten, regardless of how good it was.

Two things are true at once. Relentless self-promotion is exhausting for everyone in the room. And staying invisible is not integrity. It is just invisible.

Which has cost you more?