Some of the best opportunities in my career didn’t start with a pitch.

They started with someone discovering my thinking.

A client reached out after reading something I wrote. A journalist called because my perspective appeared in research. A podcast host invited me to appear on her show because my ideas were already circulating in conversations about a problem.

That’s when I began to understand something important:

Opportunity often follows authority, not just expertise.

Today, when investors, partners, journalists, and clients research a problem, they look for the people already shaping the conversation.

Which raises a question I think every leader should ask themselves:

If someone were researching the problem your business solves today…

would your ideas appear in that search?