The Credibility Curve Series | Part 2 of 5.
Have you ever listened to a discussion in your industry, disagreed with something being said and then decided to keep your opinion to yourself?
Perhaps you weren’t quite sure how to express your thoughts. Or you wondered whether anyone would be interested in hearing what you had to say.
Then, a few days later, you come across an article or LinkedIn post making almost the same argument you had in mind.
And you think, “That’s exactly what I was thinking!”
I’ve often wondered how many valuable professional perspectives remain unheard, not because people lack something to contribute, but because they’ve become accustomed to keeping their knowledge to themselves.
For many experienced professionals, this is the next challenge after establishing their expertise.
You know your work. You have opinions shaped by experience. You’ve seen approaches succeed and fail, and you’ve probably learned lessons that could save someone else considerable time or effort. But sharing those perspectives beyond the people you work with every day may still feel unfamiliar.
This is where the second stage of the Credibility Curve, the Emerging Voice, begins.
It’s the point at which you start moving from being someone who possesses valuable knowledge to someone who participates more deliberately in the conversations happening around that knowledge.
From Invisible Expert to Emerging Voice
In Part 1 of the Credibility Curve, The Invisible Expert, we explored why professional experience doesn’t automatically translate into recognition.
We looked at the importance of understanding your contribution, gathering evidence of your achievements and recognising how others perceive your expertise.
Once you’ve developed some clarity around what you want to be known for, a different challenge emerges.
How do you begin sharing what you know?
This may sound straightforward, particularly in a world where anyone can publish their thoughts online.
But having access to a platform and feeling comfortable using your voice are two different things.
I’ve encountered professionals who can confidently present complex recommendations to senior executives but hesitate when asked to contribute an article to an industry publication.
Others are respected voices within their organisations but rarely participate in conversations beyond their immediate workplace.
The hesitation can sometimes be mistaken for a lack of confidence but in most cases, it is just unfamiliarity with putting personal perspectives into a more public setting.
There’s also the concern that sharing too much might come across as self-promotion.
The Emerging Voice stage is about learning to navigate those concerns without losing the professional judgement and authenticity that have served you well.
What Does It Mean to Have a Professional Voice?
Your professional voice is the perspective you bring to conversations about your area of expertise.
It reflects what you’ve learned, what you believe matters, the questions you ask and the way you interpret issues affecting your profession or industry.
It also develops over time.
Think about two experienced managers attending the same industry webinar on artificial intelligence.
One shares a summary of the speaker’s presentation.
The other reflects on what the discussion means for organisations trying to introduce AI while managing limited budgets, skills gaps and employee concerns.
Both contributions may be useful but the second helps us understand how that professional thinks.
It draws from experience rather than simply repeating information.
That’s often what makes a professional voice recognisable. Over time, people begin to associate you with a particular way of examining problems, asking questions or connecting ideas.
You don’t have to be controversial or unusually outspoken, you simply need to become more comfortable contributing the perspective your experience has given you.
Why Experienced Professionals Sometimes Struggle to Speak Up
One of the interesting things about professional growth is that greater experience doesn’t always make public participation easier.
In some cases, it makes people more cautious.
When you’re early in your career, you may be comfortable asking questions because you’re still learning.
Later, as your responsibilities increase, you may feel that everything you say must demonstrate a certain level of expertise.
You worry about getting something wrong.
You wonder whether your point is original enough.
And you may be concerned about how colleagues, clients or industry peers will interpret your views.
Those are reasonable considerations. A senior professional has responsibilities that extend beyond personal expression, but caution can become limiting when it prevents you from contributing anything at all.
The Fear of Saying Something That Has Already Been Said
This is particularly common when professionals begin writing online.
You consider sharing a lesson from your work, only to discover several articles discussing the same topic.
So you abandon the idea.
It is important to note that professional conversations don’t depend entirely on people introducing subjects nobody has discussed before, different experiences often produce different interpretations.
Two professionals may both discuss leadership, for example, but one approaches it through managing large multinational teams while another draws from building a business with limited resources.
Their perspectives can offer different value even when they address the same broad issue.
The question worth asking is not simply whether a topic has been discussed before.
It’s what your experience allows you to contribute to that discussion.
The Fear of Appearing Self-Promotional
For some professionals, talking about their expertise feels uncomfortable because they’ve been taught that good work should speak for itself.
They associate visibility with drawing attention to personal achievements, but there’s a difference between constantly announcing how accomplished you are and contributing something another professional might find useful.
Sharing a lesson from a project, explaining a common mistake or asking a thoughtful question can help others without turning the conversation into a celebration of your own achievements.
I find that this distinction makes it easier to approach professional visibility.
Instead of asking, “How do I promote myself today?” ask, “What have I learned that could be useful to someone else?”
It’s a much more productive starting point.
How to Find Your Professional Voice
Developing a professional voice takes practice, and it doesn’t require a complicated content strategy.
I would begin with three things: identifying conversations worth joining, recognising what you have to contribute and choosing a way to participate that you can sustain.
1. Identify the Conversations That Matter to You
You don’t need an opinion on every subject making headlines in your industry.
In fact, trying to participate in every conversation can make your professional positioning less clear.
Instead, think about the issues you naturally pay attention to.
Perhaps you work in human resources and find yourself particularly interested in changing workforce expectations, leadership development or the effect of technology on organisational culture.
Maybe you work in finance and are drawn to conversations about financial resilience, investment decisions or how organisations balance short-term performance with longer-term growth.
Which discussions do you find yourself returning to?
Which issues do colleagues seek your views on?
What developments make you curious enough to read further or challenge what you’re hearing?
These are useful clues.
You may discover two or three topics around which you can begin developing a recognisable perspective.
That gives your professional voice some direction without confining you to an overly narrow subject.
2. Start With What You’ve Observed, Not What You Think People Want to Hear
One of the challenges with building a professional presence online is the temptation to imitate what appears to be working for other people.
You see someone publishing motivational posts that attract attention, so you try something similar.
Another professional shares industry predictions, and you begin making predictions too.
Before long, your content starts sounding like a collection of other people’s voices.
I’d encourage you to return to your own experience.
What have you observed recently that changed how you think about your work?
Has a project challenged a long-held assumption?
Have you noticed a recurring issue that your industry doesn’t discuss enough?
Have you learned something from a colleague or customer that others could benefit from hearing?
These observations don’t have to be groundbreaking.
A marketing professional might notice that a campaign achieved strong reach but generated little meaningful customer engagement. Rather than simply reporting the figures, they could share what the experience taught them about the difference between attention and commercial value.
An operations leader might reflect on how a small change in communication between departments solved a problem that had resisted more complicated interventions.
Those are the beginnings of useful professional contributions.
They are grounded in real work, which often makes them more interesting than generic advice.
Of course, be mindful of confidentiality and the boundaries of your role when discussing workplace experiences.
3. Find a Way to Participate That Suits You
When people hear the phrase building a professional voice, they often think immediately of LinkedIn posts.
LinkedIn can be useful, but it’s only one option.
You might contribute to discussions within a professional association, ask questions during webinars, participate in relevant forums or offer to share lessons from your work at an internal learning session.
For some professionals, writing feels natural.
Others are more comfortable speaking, interviewing industry peers or contributing to discussions.
The important thing is to choose an approach you’re willing to maintain.
If you dislike creating videos, there’s no reason to make them the centre of your professional visibility strategy.
If writing a weekly article feels unrealistic alongside your responsibilities, begin with shorter reflections or thoughtful contributions to existing discussions.
A manageable routine is more useful than an ambitious one you abandon after two weeks.
Why Consistency Matters at the Emerging Voice Stage
I sometimes hear professionals say they tried becoming more active on LinkedIn, but nothing happened.
They published two or three posts, received a few reactions and concluded that the effort wasn’t worthwhile.
I understand the disappointment. When you’re making an effort to put yourself out there, it’s natural to hope for some encouragement.
But developing a professional voice takes more than a few isolated contributions.
People need opportunities to encounter your perspectives, understand what you care about and recognise the areas where you can offer useful insights.
That usually happens gradually.
Consistency helps, but please do not reduce it to a rigid posting frequency.
Someone who contributes thoughtfully twice a month may develop a stronger professional reputation than someone who publishes daily without much to say.
What matters is whether your contributions are relevant, recognisable and useful to the people you want to reach.
There is also value in consistency beyond online engagement.
Each time you express an idea, respond to a question or contribute to a discussion, you become more comfortable articulating your thoughts.
You learn which subjects you understand well, where your arguments need more evidence and which conversations benefit from your experience.
Professional confidence often grows through participation.
Don’t Overlook the Value of Listening
Finding your voice doesn’t mean becoming the person who always has something to say.
Some of the most thoughtful professional contributors are also careful listeners.
They follow conversations, notice gaps in understanding and ask questions that encourage others to examine issues more deeply.
If you’re uncertain about expressing a strong opinion on a subject, begin by asking a useful question.
For example, instead of making a sweeping statement about the future of workplace AI, you might ask how organisations are preparing employees to use new tools responsibly.
A question like that can open a meaningful discussion while allowing you to learn from other people’s experiences.
Over time, those conversations can help refine your own perspective.
Building Your Presence on LinkedIn and Beyond
At this stage, I’d encourage you to focus on a few practical habits rather than attempting to become visible everywhere.
If LinkedIn is relevant to your profession, review whether your profile reflects the expertise and interests you want to be associated with.
Then identify people and organisations already participating in conversations that matter to you.
Follow their work. Read what they’re sharing. Add thoughtful comments when you have something useful to contribute.
When you’re comfortable, begin publishing occasional reflections of your own.
These might be observations from your work, responses to industry developments or questions you think deserve broader discussion.
You can also explore opportunities outside LinkedIn.
Professional association meetings, internal forums, webinars, industry workshops and small networking groups can be valuable places to develop your voice.
For someone who eventually wants to speak at major industry conferences, asking a thoughtful question at a webinar or leading a short internal discussion can be a useful starting point.
There’s no need to begin with a keynote address.
And remember that building professional relationships is not simply about increasing the number of people in your network.
A smaller group of people who understand your expertise and engage meaningfully with your ideas can be more valuable than a large but disconnected audience.
A Practical Exercise: The Three Conversations You Should Be Part Of
Before deciding what to post or where to speak, I recommend a short exercise.
Set aside 15 minutes and think about three conversations happening in your profession that you would genuinely like to contribute to.
First, identify the subjects.
Choose three issues that intersect with your experience and professional interests.
These should be topics you know enough about to offer a useful perspective, even if you’re still learning.
Second, consider what you’ve observed.
For each subject, write down one insight from your work, one question you have or one assumption you think deserves closer examination.
Don’t worry about producing a polished statement.
Focus on capturing your thinking.
Third, choose one conversation to join.
Find an article, discussion, webinar or professional forum addressing one of your chosen subjects.
Contribute something useful.
You could share a brief observation, ask a thoughtful question or respond to an idea with an example drawn from your experience.
That’s all you need to begin.
The purpose of this exercise is to make participation feel less abstract.
You already have experience. You already have perspectives.
Now you’re identifying where those perspectives might add value.
Try a 30-Day Professional Voice Challenge
If you’d like to build on this exercise, give yourself a month to establish a manageable participation habit.
I recommend the following approach:
Week 1: Listen and observe.
Identify a few professionals, publications or communities discussing issues that interest you. Pay attention to the questions being raised and the perspectives being shared.
Week 2: Join the conversation.
Contribute thoughtfully to two discussions. Your contribution could be a useful comment, a question during a webinar or a response to an industry article.
Week 3: Share your own perspective.
Publish one short reflection or share an observation in a relevant professional setting.
Choose something grounded in your experience rather than writing about a topic simply because it’s popular.
Week 4: Reflect and adjust.
Look back at your contributions.
Which conversations did you enjoy? Where did you feel you had something valuable to add? Did anyone respond with a question, share their own experience or invite you into a further discussion?
These are useful signals, even if the audience was small.
You can also observe profile visits or post engagement if those measures are relevant, but don’t make them the only indicators of progress.
Ask yourself whether you’re becoming more comfortable expressing your professional perspective.
That matters too.
How Do You Know You’re Becoming an Emerging Voice?
You may begin to notice small but meaningful changes.
You find it easier to express an opinion without feeling that it must be perfect.
You know which professional conversations deserve your attention.
A few people begin recognising the subjects you regularly discuss.
Someone responds to your contribution, asks a follow-up question or remembers a perspective you shared earlier.
These aren’t guarantees that new opportunities will follow, and they don’t necessarily happen within a fixed period, but they suggest that your professional voice is becoming clearer and more familiar to others.
At this stage, I would pay more attention to the quality of your participation than the size of your audience.
A thoughtful conversation with the right professional peer can be more meaningful than a post that attracts hundreds of reactions but little genuine engagement.
Coming Next: The Credible Contributor
As you become more comfortable sharing your perspectives, another challenge emerges.
How do you demonstrate that your expertise goes beyond interesting observations and occasional opinions?
How do you create contributions that people can learn from, apply or return to when they need reliable insight?
That’s the focus of Part 3 of the Credibility Curve: The Credible Contributor.
We’ll explore how to move from participating in professional conversations to producing more substantial work that demonstrates the depth of your knowledge.
Continue to Part 3: The Credible Contributor
Your Voice Is Part of Your Professional Reputation
I believe many experienced professionals underestimate how much value there is in sharing what they’ve learned.
They assume that because something has become familiar to them, it must be equally obvious to everyone else.
But experience offers perspectives that cannot always be found in a textbook, a professional qualification or a quick internet search.
You’ve worked through difficult decisions, made mistakes, tested approaches and developed judgement along the way.
Someone else may be facing a challenge that your experience could help them understand.
You don’t need to become a professional commentator or have an opinion on every issue affecting your industry.
Start by contributing where you have something worthwhile to say. Then give yourself room to develop through those conversations.
