Digital connectivity has democratised influence, but it’s also created a new challenge: distinguishing between leaders who command attention and those who actually deserve it. Meta’s Cindy Tan unpacks the paradox.
In the Kalahari desert, a meerkat stands upright, scanning the horizon. Small and vulnerable, it survives not by force but by vigilance, knowing what to watch, what to ignore, and when to act. It does not react to every rustle or shadow. It chooses. It waits. It acts with purpose.
I think about that meerkat more often than I care to admit, especially when scrolling through an endless stream of executive “insights”, thought leadership posts, and algorithm-driven performances masquerading as discourse. Somewhere along the way, it seems visibility eclipsed value, and the race to be heard has replaced the harder work of offering perspectives that genuinely matter.
What was once the discipline to speak with intent has been replaced by the reflex to speak for visibility’s sake. We reward volume over value and speed over sense. In the scramble to feed algorithms, the patience to pause, reflect, and choose words that resonate has eroded, along with the trust that separates genuine authority from mere presence.
For leaders from Asia and the Middle East, this confusion between noise and authority can be an even sharper trap. We are, by cultural instinct, more reserved and more conscious of how we will be perceived by our community. In Western-dominated business environments, that thoughtfulness is often misread as hesitation. Silence, which in Gulf cultures may signal respect, or in Southeast Asia careful consideration, can be interpreted as disengagement or even incompetence.
Early in my career, I fell into this trap. I studied leaders who commanded rooms with ease, adopted their gestures, and mirrored their timing. I learned to interrupt strategically, to speak with borrowed confidence. It worked, briefly. But adaptation without authenticity is performance, and performances always end. My turning point came when I realised I was not on a stage but on a platform, not a place to play a part, but a place to stand as myself.
Today, influence is shaped not just by the articles we read or the people we meet, but by the queries we type, the prompts we give AI, and the voices we choose to amplify. Information is infinite, but not equal. A single search can send us spiralling into partial truths; a single post can reach millions without carrying a shred of wisdom. Leaders cannot afford to be passive consumers of this chaos, we must curate for signal amidst the noise.
Authentic, original thinking is essential. Strategic engagement is not about showing up everywhere; it is about showing up where it counts, with ideas that move the conversation forward rather than simply adding to it. Leaders who practise discernment filter for relevance, substance, and truth. They stand out because they resist the compulsion to react to everything, becoming trusted for their reliability, not their frequency.
The framework that has guided me is what I call MAGIC:
Manifestation forces clarity on where and who you want to be, demanding authenticity over performance.
Activation turns that clarity into consistent action, connecting conviction with real impact.
Gift anchors leadership in service, making your contributions harder to dismiss even when delivered quietly.
Interest adds to your depth, keeps you relatable, proving authority does not require perfection.
Courage to care is the most radical act—to care beyond yourself, for others, communities, and causes.
This is not soft leadership. Authentic care builds social capital, a flywheel of goodwill that creates opportunity, partnership, and measurable value. The most profound leadership often lies not in what we broadcast, but in what we choose not to amplify. The meerkat does not alert the colony to every movement, only to what matters. That selectivity is not weakness; it is the difference between leadership and performance.
The task is not to choose between purpose and platform, but to make the platform serve purpose. That means rejecting metrics that measure reach but ignore impact, curating insights based on fact, and bringing our cultural context to global conversations rather than diluting our voices to fit a mould.
The hard truth is that playing it safe and playing it smart are not the same. Over-caution can leave the narrative in someone else’s hands entirely. If we do not tell our stories, others will tell them for us, and they will get them wrong. But the opposite extreme, constant performance and endless noise, is just as dangerous. The answer lies in strategic engagement, knowing when to speak, how to speak, and when speaking serves others rather than ourselves.
The world does not need more noise. It needs leaders willing to stand watch like the meerkat— scanning the horizon with cultural wisdom and global awareness, pointing only to what truly matters. In an age of infinite information, perhaps the most radical act is to speak and to say it in our own voice, shaped by our own experience and grounded in our own truth.
Discernment is as vital as vision. That means auditing our own contributions and asking whether they add light or just more noise. But discernment must not become an excuse for self-erasure. History shows that when voices—especially women’s—fall silent, progress stalls and perspectives disappear.
In an age awash with information, the world does not just need fewer words; it needs words that add value, broaden understanding, and carry the intent to serve others. The most powerful leaders will be those who choose their moments wisely, speaking with clarity and purpose so their voice cuts through the clutter and moves the world forward.
Cindy Tan is Managing Director for Global Clients at Meta. She explores the above themes further in her book “Own Your MAGIC”, now available in both paperback and hardcover at Kinokuniya and online bookstores.