The hidden economy: what’s working in your favor in rooms you’re not in, but your name is
Lessons from Kim Chappell: Chief Brand Officer of Bobbie
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I logged into my email expecting the usual: things to do, things to respond to, things already slightly overdue.
So when I saw an email with a green heart emoji and a “Hi” next to it, it was clearly the first one I clicked on.
It was from Kim Chappell, Chief Brand Officer of Bobbie.
It was totally unexpected since we haven’t talked in months. We’ve shared a few LinkedIn likes and the occasional cheering-you-on posts in the comments, but nothing more formal than that. She’d just been thinking about something positive and decided to say it instead of letting it die in her head.
I read it twice before replying. It made my whole morning.
I’m dedicating this to her. Partly because of the gesture behind that email. But mostly because she would’ve been a perfect example regardless. This is just how Kim is on a Tuesday.. and every week.. whether or not anyone’s watching.
For anyone who doesn’t know her yet, a little context:
Kim is the Chief Brand Officer of Bobbie, the organic infant formula company (the best one on the market, in my opinion, though I’ll admit I’m biased). She built her career the long way, starting as a journalist of all things then transitioning to brand and marketing roles before landing in the CBO seat. She now no doubt one of those people other founders probably text when they need a real answer instead of a nice one. She’s also become a genuinely vocal advocate for family policy in this country, the kind of issue most brand executives wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
She’s in her early forties, so don’t picture someone decades into a corner office when you hear Chief Brand Officer. Picture someone taking a call during swim practice. Picture someone who’s put a hard line on her calendar because a call before 9am is simply not in the cards right now.
She’s open about how hard being a working mom actually is. And in the same breath, you can tell she’s enjoying the ride. Not white-knuckling it or beating herself up over the chaos. Just letting the season be exactly what it is.
So let’s get into what I mean by “the hidden economy”
There’s a kind of professional capital being built by some of the most interesting people I know right now and it doesn’t show up anywhere obvious.
Not on a resume, or a follower count, or a title update. You can’t buy it. And you can’t optimize your way into it.
It’s the economy of people wanting you around.
Wanting you in their orbit. Because you make the world a little better to be in. Because you bring energy instead of draining it. Because you open doors for other people and give freely, without doing the math on what you get back.
Whether or not we have a word for it yet, the people who operate this way have an advantage right now. It isn’t new, it’s just become more visible because we’re all so starved for the real thing.
So when you see someone like this there’s almost a sigh of relief in it. A quiet “thank you” for being real and positive and just genuinely enjoyable to be around.
In a world full of copy and paste, most people aren’t looking for more content. They’re looking for something simple: authenticity, energy, realness. They want to feel like they’re meeting a whole person on the other side.
So when someone like Kim shows up just being… Kim, she has a kind of social currency most people don’t. And not because they couldn’t.. they just haven’t put it into practice yet.
The thing she calls “flying around Slack”
A few months ago, I interviewed Kim for a BONDE session, where she shared a habit she calls “flying around Slack”.
At the end of the week or at night, sometimes with a glass of wine in hand, she goes back through everything that happened and sends the compliments she meant to say out loud and didn’t. Doesn’t matter if it’s late. Doesn’t even matter if it’s a week later. That deck was stellar. You nailed that pitch. I really needed that advice. You handled that with so much ease.
We think these things constantly. We’re just moving too fast to say them, and the day swallows them before we get the chance. I’m guilty of it too. You notice everything your spouse did, your friend did, your team did, and by the time the kids are fed and to bed, it’s already faded like it never happened.
You thought the compliment. You just didn’t think to say it out loud.
Kim’s reminder was a good one. The compliment that lives in your head helps nobody.
An example of an opportunity accumulating in a room she wasn’t physically in, but her name was.
Reading this will be the first time she’s heard this story, so this is fun!
A few weeks ago, my co-founder, our head of brand, and I were on a call prepping for our BONDE retreat in Austin this November. We were dreaming up the idea of an external guest panel of high-caliber women based in ATX who could speak into the retreat theme in a meaningful way.
Kim was the first person who came up. We were immediately excited about her energy and the perspective she’d bring, and how naturally it would tie into what we’re building that weekend. Even better, she’s connected to other incredible women who would be dream additions to the panel.
At the exact second we were ideating this, my phone buzzed: a LinkedIn notification.
Kim commented on a post of mine from two weeks earlier on brands getting involved in the retreat. Her comment: “Bala Bands is here in Austin, Poppi, Ladder, Fields Good, Y7 Studio. I would love to swing by!”
The timing could not have been more wild. All three of us actually shrieked. Did we just manifest her into the room??
It’s moments like that, building something alongside people you genuinely love doing life with, where you sit in it for a second and feel like you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
But the funny part is, Kim didn’t know any of this was happening on our end. We were saying her name in a room she had no idea existed. And at the exact same time, she was showing up in my comments, cheering, offering, leaning in.
See how that works?? That’s the hidden economy. Social currency moving in both directions at once.
And the story doesn’t stop there. That same “Hi <3” email this week turned into something real. Kim and I jellied up the panel idea into something more serious, and she immediately offered to reach out to women we had only been loosely mapping out on a call. What felt hypothetical is now starting to take shape as an actual panel for the Austin retreat. The team is ecstatic (see Slack message below).
Important disclaimer for all: None of this happens if people stay on the sidelines.
Kim posts, comments, says yes to being a guest speaker before there’s anything obvious in it for her. I do my version of that too. We found each other because we’re both willing to be visible.
Visibility isn’t just exposure. It’s access. When you’re willing to be seen, you start to find yourself in rooms you didn’t have to force your way into.
What we can learn here
There’s a lesson in here we can use without turning it into strategy or some weird tactic. Living this way does have a natural byproduct, even if that’s not the point. Your name gets spoken in rooms you’re not in. And opportunities show up you never even imagined for yourself.
Give without doing the mental math on what comes back. That’s the whole engine, and the second you start tracking the return, it stops working.
If you think the compliment.. say it. In the comments, in slack, in a text, to a stranger’s face. Get comfortable enough saying it out loud that it becomes second nature. Don’t just notice the good thing and think it… say it.
Carry a we’ll figure it out energy into everything. Life’s too short to pre-stress about what might go wrong. If you’ve got enough things going at once that you’re testing and trying, the few that flop barely register, because you’re busy with the ones that hit. Worst case, it didn’t work. Try it anyway.
Give credit. Nobody notices when credit goes unspoken. Except for maybe the person hoping to receive it. But everybody notices, and remembers, when it’s freely given. Recognition is one of the most underrated people skills.
Own it when something goes sideways. It’s not all rainbows and the people worth being around are the ones who say so plainly when they mess up.
Be honest about your actual experience. The working parent stuff. The startup stuff. The launch that didn’t go the way you pictured. People want to be around people who are honest about the journey.
And lastly, advice from Kim in her own words: “Be kind on the climb”
In the vein of the article- thank you for sharing this. I agree on the being honest and also being kind and giving the compliment. I love it when someone compliments me and reaches out a trying to do this more- in the world and across Substack. Also- love that you are sharing your excitement, too often people are so blasé about things on the outside but are probably actually excited for!