Be memorable or fade into obscurity. Be polarizing or be forgotten.
Sounds intense? It should. It’s 2025, and we’re all living in the attention economy: a world where success isn’t measured by your commission checks or quarterly KPIs, but by your ability to capture and, most importantly, hold people’s attention.
This isn’t a gimmick of the online era; it’s a fundamental shift that the internet has simply put on steroids. Not enough people have realized that in 2025, attention isn’t vanity; it’s real currency and equity for your business.
If people know you, remember you and pay attention to you, they’re more likely to trust you, work with you and pay you. Ignore it, and you risk becoming irrelevant, no matter how good you are at your craft.
The rules are nearly identical for both executives leading massive teams and companies and agents building their individual businesses.
Executives: Visibility is now absolutely part of the job
Founders, brokerage execs and C-suite leaders aren’t exempt from participating in the attention economy. In fact, you’ve always needed to be a visible, trusted face for your company, but the dynamics of a very online world raise the stakes and shorten the timelines. A few sporadic interviews or conference keynotes won’t cut it anymore.
People who matter to your business — your team, your clients, your investors — expect you to show up often across multiple platforms with a clear vision and a consistent voice. Even vaunted consulting firm McKinsey is championing the idea that the CEO’s role must include being the “Chief Storyteller.”
The upside? It’s never been easier or cheaper to do. In action, it can come to life in a few ways. Traditionally, execs did media interviews that resulted in coverage about their company. That world still exists and is still important, but it has heavily evolved over the past few years to include dozens of other tactics that truly anyone can do.
It could be posting weekly thought leadership on LinkedIn, sharing quick video takes on Instagram or TikTok, building a following on X with sharp market commentary and authentic engagement with others, or carving out time to attend conferences and participate in industry panels. The channels are endless, and the more you show up, the harder it is for anyone to question your leadership, your narrative and your vision.
Case study: Carrie Wheeler
The opposite is just as true. Take the recent resignation of Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler. In the past 2.5 years at the helm of the publicly listed company, she’d made almost no media appearances and had very little presence online. She hadn’t tweeted in nearly four years and had only made sporadic LinkedIn posts here and there.
Her sparse online and media footprint made it seem as though she hopped onto quarterly earnings calls and went right back to business as usual. She didn’t invest in her executive brand, and she didn’t take enough personal action to grow the Opendoor brand. So, when retail investors started paying closer attention to the company, they found a leader they didn’t know and a vision they couldn’t see. They did not know what to think about her because she had not created a narrative for herself.
In the attention economy, that lack of visibility became a liability, and ultimately, for Carrie Wheeler, a tenure-ending one. It didn’t mean she wasn’t a competent leader, but in the absence of any visibility, company-watchers assumed the worst and created their own negative narrative.
Agents: Visibility wins deals
There are similar rules for agents in the current attention economy. Today’s top agents know that “being extremely online” isn’t optional; it’s a huge competitive advantage.
Case study: Ryan Serhant
Look at Ryan Serhant. Over the past decade, he’s turned consistent, high-energy visibility into a brand empire. He’s mastered the art of being so good you can’t look away. He’s turned himself from a reality TV side character into one of the most recognized and successful names in real estate.
You may not be an ex-actor or a born entertainer like Serhant, but his success is a blueprint: In 2025, in the attention economy, your online presence is part of your listing presentation.
A top agent in Austin recently told me she lost a listing not to someone with more experience or a better pricing strategy, but to an agent with a stronger Instagram presence. The sellers didn’t see it as fluff; they saw it as proof that this agent could get their property more exposure. In their minds, the deal went to the person winning the attention game.
You don’t need to dance on TikTok to compete, but you do need to show up where your clients spend their time, and they need to feel like you know how to play the attention game. In this market, invisibility is a liability.
Show up or get sidelined
The takeaway for both agents and execs is simple: Attention is oxygen. Without it, you suffocate. With it, you can outlast, outgrow and outperform the competition.
It could mean the difference between winning your next listing, landing your biggest client or keeping your job.
Show up accordingly. People are watching.
Cristin Culver is a strategic communications consultant and advisor. Connect with her on LinkedIn and X.
