The Best Company Doesn't Always Win

Welcome to Cultivating Executive Presence, a podcast for leaders who must lead in public. I'm Justin Asiri, CEO and founder of executive presence. I've spent the last decade helping growth stage CEOs step into the visibility their companies need, even when it's the last thing they want to do.

I first learned about the concept of executive presence when I was at the Naval Academy. I don't remember it ever formally being defined, but I do remember exactly how it felt when others described it, the sense of a captain entering the bridge, and the way the energy in the room shifts, the way people sit up straighter. That felt presence, the ability to convince others that you're worthy of being followed.

What I've learned since then is this, the best company doesn't always win. The best perceived one does, and that's what we're going to unpack today.

Let me tell you a story that plays out over and over again. Two CEOs, both brilliant, both built strong products, assembled great teams and executed well now. CEO a has been in the industry for 15 years, deep technical expertise. Customer Testimonials are glowing. The product works. The company is profitable and growing steadily. CEO B has been in the market for three years, less experience, smaller team. Product is good, but not objectively better.

Here's what happens. CEO B is everywhere they're speaking at conferences, active on LinkedIn, getting quoted in industry publications, building relationships with key investors and partners in public CEO a heads down, focused on the work, believes the product should speak for itself within two years, CEO B closes a series B at twice the valuation. They land, the marquee customers, they attract, the senior talent, they get the acquisition offers. CEO A is still doing great work, still more experienced, still technically superior, but losing not because the company is worse, but because the perception is weaker.

This isn't about fairness. This is about reality. Critical business outcomes are decided before the facts are fully evaluated. Perception shapes who gets trust, who gets believed, who gets chosen, long before a deal higher or raise is on the table.

Think about the major inflection points for any growth stage company. First, customers, when a buyer is choosing between you and a competitor, they're not running a feature by feature analysis, they're asking, Do I trust this company? Do I believe in this leader that trust is built through visibility and credibility things they see and hear about you in the market.

Second, talent, top candidates, evaluate leaders. First, they're asking, Is this someone I want to follow, someone I can learn from, someone who will open doors for my career? They form that judgment based on your public presence, how you show up, what you say, whether you're known.

Third, investors and inquirers, they're betting on you, not just your numbers. Perception shapes confidence and valuation. If you're invisible, your question mark, if you're visible, you're credible and you're de risked for internal stakeholders, your board, your team, your partners, they all need to believe in your leadership. Part of that belief comes from seeing you lead publicly. It signals confidence fiction and the ability to represent the company at scale.

This is the reality in today's market. You can't build that perception from the shadows. Here's what I hear from leaders constantly. I want to do good work and be discovered. I don't want the spotlight. I get it. Most leaders didn't sign up to be public figures. They're operators. They're builders. They care about solving problems, serving customers, growing the business. The idea of personal visibility feels like a distraction at best, narcissistic at worst.

But here's the problem, while your head's down, doing great work in private, your competitors are building perception in public and they're eating your lunch. This isn't about who's better. It's about who's known. The market doesn't reward the best. It rewards the best perceived, and perception is built through consistent, strategic public presence. You can have the better product, you can have the better team, you can have the better track record and still lose to someone who's simply more visible.

So why does this matter more now than ever? Because the pace of decision-making has accelerated. Buyers, investors and talent are making choices faster. They're not doing exhaustive research. They're going with who they already know, who they already trust and who they already believe in, and because visibility is no longer optional for leaders, the tools exist, the platforms exist, your competitors are using them. If you're not, you're invisible by choice, and that choice has consequences.

I'm not saying you need to become an influencer. I'm not saying you need to learn. Love the spotlight. I am saying that if you want to lead an organization that competes, that attracts talent, that raises capital, that wins in the market, you have to be willing to lead publicly. Leading publicly doesn't mean posting every day or becoming someone you're not. It means showing up consistently where your stakeholders are. It means having a point of view and expressing it. It means making your expertise and your leadership visible, so that when decisions are being made, you're already in the conversation. This is about strategic stakeholder communication at scale. It's about building the perception that drives business outcomes, and it's uncomfortable. I know that most of the leaders I work with would rather stay heads down, but they've learned that visibility isn't vanity, it's leadership.

Because here's the truth, the best company doesn't always win the Best perceived one does, and if you're not willing to shape that perception, someone else will shape it for you, or worse, you won't have one at all. Over the coming weeks, we're going to explore how to do this well, how to step into public leadership without losing your integrity, how to find the intersection of your expertise and what your audience actually cares about, how to measure whether it's working. How to make peace with being visible when you'd rather just do the work.

This podcast is for leaders who understand that visibility is now part of the job, even when it's uncomfortable. New episodes every week. If you're ready to stop leading in the shadows and start shaping the perception of your company, needs hit subscribe.

Thanks for being here. I'm Justin Asiri, and this is cultivating executive presence.