Is your leadership team truly exerting the power of executive visibility to drive your organisation’s impact and their own professional growth? If not, what’s holding you back?
In today’s fast-evolving, high-stakes and hyper-connected world, executive visibility is far more than a personal branding exercise. It’s a critical driver of value for leaders and their organisations in the pharma and healthcare sectors. C-suite leaders aren’t just executives; they’re powerful brands, thought leaders and industry ambassadors who can profoundly shape their company’s trajectory as well as their own careers.
Identifying and consistently using the most powerful tactics and tools is key to achieving profile and influence with every priority audience. It takes time and focus to make best use of LinkedIn and to build recognition through awards and industry engagement. You need to ensure regulatory compliance in every communication to avoid undermining credibility. It’s not easy, but with the right knowledge and resources, the impact can be exceptional – just look at Vas Narasimhan.
Executive visibility, both internal and external, is crucial for impact and progression.
Are you, or your exec team colleagues, achieving the visibility you need and deserve?
Influence beyond the media spotlight
When we talk about executive visibility, we don’t just mean landing a quote in a major media outlet. Today, it’s about a comprehensive strategy that connects your internal profile with your external presence. It’s about thoughtfully defining what a C-suite leader wants to be recognised for and then strategically building that recognition.
Executive visibility is a strategy for one (or more) individual(s), but the payoffs are very much bigger than simple self-promotion. It’s about:
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Building company and brand leadership: visible leaders directly amplify the corporate narrative and reinforce the organisation’s values. The most influential leaders tend to be go-to spokespersons for industry moments that matter, as well as pipeline milestones and significant business announcements
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Attracting top talent and partners: in a competitive landscape, a visible, influential leader makes an organisation more appealing to potential collaborators and future employees. Leaders need to be sought after, not only to be seen
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Acquiring institutional influence: pharma and healthcare leaders need to establish their voice in critical areas like industry standards, scientific policy and regulatory discussions. To achieve this, they’ll likely take up institutional board roles and participate in influential forums
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Navigating peers and partners: sharing their story and clearly articulating what they stand for helps build an internal community around the leader and reinforces their commitment to the organisation and culture. This foundation of trust that creates a platform for a strong public profile and effective collaboration across the industry
LinkedIn is a command centre for healthcare thought leadership
In the digital age, LinkedIn has become indispensable for cultivating executive visibility. It’s more than just a professional networking site; it’s a powerful tool for thought leadership. Here’s the evidence:
- LinkedIn boasts over a billion users and adds millions more every month, making it a vast and influential professional ecosystem (demandsage.com)
- Thought leadership content on LinkedIn consistently generates significantly higher engagement – reportedly 170% more click-throughs than other content types, including paid advertising. It has an unparalleled ability to cut through the noise and resonate with your target audience (linkedin.com)
- LinkedIn data shows ads from real executives outperform company page ads by a factor of three to six in click-through rates (Impactable.com)
- 76% of professionals say thought leadership content helps them make better business decisions. (FT Longitude Insights)
- 60% of decision-makers are willing to pay a premium to work with companies that demonstrate strong thought leadership. (Edelman-LinkedIn Thought Leadership Impact Report, 2024)
For pharma and healthcare leaders, LinkedIn offers an unparalleled opportunity to establish a strong presence in specific therapy areas or around product launches. It doesn’t happen by accident. Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan has an exemplary reputation, supported by authentic and consistent use of social media to demonstrate his commitment to health equity and science innovation that has an impact in society. The content he shares is thoughtful, relevant and insightful, valued by peers and media influencers as well as stakeholders and staff. As his reputation grows, he becomes ever more sought after and influential. It’s the result of a smart executive visibility strategy, flawlessly executed by a talented leader and their team.
For leaders at an earlier stage of their visibility journey, LinkedIn is a powerful tool to grow influence. Through optimisation and targeted strategies, experts can make sure your content reaches the precise audience you need to influence and can track its impact with clear metrics. You can demonstrate expertise through insightful and amplify key messages during congresses and industry events. Video is a key medium, commanding five times more attention than text content (Hootsuite/Vidico.) Today’s leaders need to be confident and effective visual communicators.
A selective approach to awards and recognition
Often dismissed as ego trips, awards and recognition are in many cases invaluable assets for organisations and brands. Awards submissions can be time-consuming to build, with detailed descriptions and rigorous data to source and validate. But if an award’s worth having, it’s probably not going to be easy to earn. Likewise for industry recognition: it takes time for an executive to build a trusted relationship and show long-term commitment to a cause or focus area. These are not usually quick wins.
Selectivity is key. The awarding body or institution must be known and respected by your peers and key audiences. The right external recognition provides tangible proof of credibility and excellence within the industry. It validates an executive’s expertise and benefits the company’s standing and brand reputation. Deciding which organisations and awards to target forms part of a comprehensive executive visibility strategy.
Executive visibility demands long-term commitment
Developing a personalised, targeted digital strategy for executives, complete with thematic pillars and a monthly content calendar, can powerfully amplify your corporate narrative, raising their profile and commanding the right kind of attention and influence within regulatory limits.
To achieve genuine impact, you need regular, high-quality engagement over a sustained period. With many competing priorities and a heavy operational workload, this consistency can be the biggest challenge for executives. But it’s a costly mistake to let visibility slide: at this moment, healthcare executives need to show up on LinkedIn, at key awards and on critical platforms. They need to be vocal about what matters to them and demonstrate genuine passion for their work and their organisation’s mission. Because if they don’t, others will. And others are already filling that space and making their presence felt in a meaningful way.
If you or your exec team are ready to step onto a platform of purpose and engage with influential audiences and peers, we at The Difference Collective have the experience to help you make it happen. Check out our Executive Visibility Healthcare Stack, designed to support you with tailor-made strategy, content and skills to elevate your public profile in an authentic and impactful way.
About The Difference Collective
We build bespoke, full-service teams to meet your healthcare consultancy, content and communications needs, delivering exceptional results for our clients’ strategic priorities and projects. We work for the best and most ambitious organisations in pharma and healthcare. We’re Different from traditional healthcare communications agencies because we have more experience, we offer better value and – most importantly – we achieve exceptional results.
