It’s Not What You Have — It’s What They See

---

“Talent speaks for itself” is a lie — unless you’re Chuck Norris. He counted to infinity. Twice.

For the rest of us, talent is only half the job — the other half is making sure others see it.

So, how do you make sure people see it?

Glad you asked! But before we get to the 3 communication principles that answer it — let me tell you a story.

The Silent Archer

Long ago, in the kingdom of Presentasia, King Slideon held a grand competition to find the next Royal Archer. Archers gathered from every corner of the realm, eager to claim the prestigious title.

The arena was unlike any other. Trees stood tall, their branches heavy with fruits of every kind … mangoes, apples, plums … each positioned at varying heights. At the far end, high above, a metal bell swayed atop the royal flagpole. It had no clapper and made no sound, barely noticed by the crowd.

The competition began.

One by one, archers stepped onto the platform. Each announced the fruit they aimed for, explaining why it was difficult to hit — its size, distance, angle. Then they took their shot. Some missed. A few hit their mark. Every successful strike drew cheers from the crowd.

After a long series of contestants, the arena fell silent. No one else came forward.

King Slideon stood.

“Is there anyone left who wishes to compete?”

A few moments passed in stillness.

Then, from the edge of the crowd, a hooded figure stepped forward.

He said nothing — No target, No explanation.

He raised his bow, drew a single arrow, and released.

The arrow soared through the air. Over the trees. Past the fruits.

It struck the tiny bell atop the flagpole. The bell rang. Clear, loud, and unmistakable.

The crowd gasped. The judges leaned in.

“Did he mean to hit that?”

“No one knows. He never said a word.”

But the archer was already walking away.

The king, offended by the archer’s demeanor, rose and declared,

“The challenge was never spoken. Mayhap it was mere luck. This one is unworthy of the title.”

Instead, the title went to another who had struck a large apple but — he had described his target with flair, and basked in applause before even releasing the arrow.

Years passed.

The silent archer faded into obscurity. But he never stopped serving.

In shadow, he fought battles few knew existed.

His arrows ended wars before they began, eliminating threats from afar, protecting the kingdom. Without any recognition.

One day, a grand celebration was held in Presentasia. The arena overflowed with people. King Slideon sat on his throne, waving to the cheering crowd.

Suddenly, a hush fell.

A snake had slithered onto the throne.

Its head rose, fangs bared, and aimed straight at the king.

Before anyone could react, an arrow flew from the crowd. It sliced through the air… and the snake’s head.

The king sat untouched. Not a scratch on him or his throne.

All eyes turned toward the direction of the shot.

There stood the silent archer.

As he turned to leave again, the king stood.

“Wait.”

The archer paused.

The king stepped forward. His voice was filled with remorse and gratitude.

“I remember you. You’re the one who struck the bell all those years ago. You were worthy to be the Royal Archer all along. We mistook your silence for arrogance.”

The archer finally spoke.

“My skill was never silent. You just weren’t listening.”

Unspoken skills go unseen

To grow your career, talent isn’t enough — you need visibility. These 3 communication principles will help you be seen.

1. Clarity builds credibility

You might be the expert, but if you hedge too much, speak vaguely, or stay silent when it counts, people won’t take you seriously. Every weak interaction erodes how others perceive you.

Consider two suggestions to delay a launch.

“I think we should delay the launch. The feature doesn’t seem fully ready, and it just feels a bit risky right now.”

vs.

“I recommend delaying the launch by two weeks. Regression tests show a 12% failure rate. If we launch now, we risk impacting our largest customers who account for 40% of revenue.”

Both have good intentions. Only one brings clarity with data.

Both suggest delaying. Only one builds credibility.

2. Framing drives engagement

When your audience speaks different languages, one-size-fits-all messaging fails to deliver.

• Junior engineers want the stack trace.

• Senior engineers value architectural trade-offs.

• Product managers prioritize impact and timelines.

• Leadership focuses on strategy and cost.

Framing communication for the audience feels like busywork. But it pays off —  the audience gets it, less friction and faster decisions.

Take for instance, a proposal to leadership about addressing tech debt

“We propose allocating two sprints to refactor the legacy monolith into decoupled micro-services using domain-driven design. We’ll implement dependency injection, establish proper service boundaries via gRPC interfaces, and introduce test harnesses with >80% code coverage using TestContainers.”

vs.

“Tech debt in our core system is delaying feature deliveries costing us $250K every quarter in lost engineering productivity and slower time to market. By investing 2 sprints now, we project saving ~$180K per quarter.”

Same proposal. Different framing. Only one earns buy-in.

3. Be respectful, even when disagreeing

High-stakes situations are common. Respectful communication in tense moments sets leaders apart.

Picture this in a stressful situation:

“I really don’t think we should push a hotfix like this. We’ve broken stuff before, and I don’t get why there’s this tendency to rush without thinking.”

vs.

“I recommend we hold off on this hotfix until it passes basic regression. In the last quarter, two similar urgent fixes cost us 60 hours in incident response. A 3-hour delay for minimal validation will prevent another user-facing impact and support escalations.”

Which one moves the conversation forward?

A Final Word

Take efforts to be visible — meetings, shared forums, all-hands are opportunities. Speak up and importantly, articulate before you speak.

That said, visibility isn’t always about speaking — it’s about discernment. Disagreements are inevitable but the wisdom lies in knowing when and how to voice them. Arguing without reason and data backfires; and makes future interactions stressful. Sometimes, silence is a strategy.

The takeaway? Give communication the priority it deserves — it’s the work that makes everything else count.

Every company has silent archers working in the shadows — quietly ship critical fixes, refactor spaghetti code, and unblock others. They are technically brilliant but professionally invisible. And stuck.

So, don’t be a silent archer waiting years for an opportunity to save the king from a snake … if at all it happens, like in a story.

---

Author’s Note

This article is part of a series exploring the principles behind a fulfilling tech career. If you find this helpful, consider subscribing to receive future articles straight to your inbox.

You might also enjoy other articles from the series: Unspoken Principles of a Fulfilling Tech Career