There’s an old military saying: a title doesn’t make you a leader — visibility does. You can have the corner office, the fancy title on the business card, and your name on the building, but none of it matters if your people rarely see you. Leadership is not paperwork. Leadership is presence. It’s showing up, standing with your team, and proving every day that you’re in this with them.

I’ve walked through too many plants where the leaders were ghosts. Their names were on the organizational chart, but nobody ever saw them on the floor. You’d hear the same line from operators and engineers alike: “We don’t even know if the boss knows who we are.” That, my friends, is not leadership. That’s absentee management. And it’s a recipe for mediocrity at best, and collapse at worst.

If you want to know what’s happening in your business, go where the work is. Don’t rely on filtered reports or sanitized PowerPoints from middle managers. Walk the floor. Shake hands. Learn names. Ask questions. Notice things.

When you know your people’s names, you’re telling them they matter. When you stop by to check on a project — not to micromanage, but to listen — you’re telling them their work is seen and valued. And here’s the kicker: you’ll also find out the truth. People will tell you things in a casual hallway conversation that they’ll never say in a meeting. You’ll catch problems early. You’ll pick up on morale shifts before they become mutinies.

Leaders who walk the floor build trust. Leaders who hide in offices build walls. Which one do you want?

Here’s the part too many leaders miss: it’s not just your employees who notice when you’re absent. Customers notice too.

How many times have you heard a customer say, “We never see management — only the sales rep”? That’s not a compliment. It’s a warning. Customers want to know the people at the top care about them. They want to feel your presence, not just see your signature at the bottom of an invoice.

The best leaders I’ve known made it a point to show up for customers. They’d sit in on calls. They’d visit sites. They’d pick up the phone themselves when things went wrong. Not because they didn’t trust their teams, but because they wanted customers to know leadership was invested.

Think about it: when’s the last time you walked into a restaurant, a store, or even a factory tour and thought, “Where’s the owner?” When leadership is invisible, it signals indifference. And indifference kills trust.

Leadership is easy when business is booming, when margins are fat, and customers are lined up at the door. Anyone can look good then. The real test comes when things get hard — when the line goes down, when a customer is screaming, when orders are late and stress is high. That’s when visibility matters most.

If you’re the leader, that’s the moment you belong on the floor, shoulder-to-shoulder with your people. Not barking orders from a conference room. Not hiding behind emails. Out there. Present. Hands dirty. Maybe not physically fixing machines — unless that’s your background — but emotionally carrying the weight with your team.

Your presence in the hard times is worth ten motivational speeches. It says, “I see you. I’m with you. We’ll get through this together.” That’s leadership. That’s inspiration. And that’s how loyalty is built — not through memos, but through moments.

Here’s a hard truth: too many people chase leadership for the wrong reason. They think the job comes with prestige, comfort, maybe a reserved parking spot. But the higher you climb, the less about you it becomes. Leadership is not about privilege; it’s about responsibility.

A title gives you authority. Presence earns you respect. Anyone can demand compliance with a title. Only true leaders inspire commitment through visibility.

And if you think leadership is about hiding in a cushy office, let me tell you something blunt: you’re in the wrong job.

I’ll give you a story. Years ago, I visited a manufacturing company that was losing business left and right. Customers complained about quality. Employees complained about management. Walking the floor, I asked a simple question: “When was the last time you saw your general manager down here?” The answer? Blank stares. People couldn’t even remember.

That same day, I visited another plant. Their general manager made a point of walking the production floor every morning and every afternoon. He knew names, birthdays, kids’ names, hobbies. He wasn’t faking it. He genuinely cared. The difference in morale, productivity, and customer satisfaction was night and day.

It wasn’t about charisma. It was about presence. He led from the front. The other hid in his office. Guess which company survived and grew?

It’s common sense: if you’re hiding, you’re not leading. Leadership is about visibility. It’s about showing up. It’s about being present when it matters most.

You can’t lead through email. You can’t lead through quarterly reports. You can’t lead by watching from the sidelines. You lead by being out front — in the plant, in the field, in the trenches with your people and your customers.

So here’s the challenge. Tomorrow morning, before you open your laptop, take a walk. Go where the work is. Talk to your people. Visit a customer. Step out of the office and into the front lines. Do it every day. Not as a stunt, not as a gimmick, but as a way of life.

Because the truth is simple: leadership is not a position, it’s a presence.

Common Sense

A title doesn’t make you a leader — visibility does. Walk the floor; know your people’s names. Customers notice when leadership is absent. Inspiring teams means showing up when it’s hard. And here’s the plain, unvarnished common sense: if you’re hiding, you’re not leading.

Lead from the front. Or don’t bother calling yourself a leader at all. It’s only common sense.