The Performance Economy

Advice, Advice and More Advice

We live in an era where advice is everywhere—reels, posts, panels, etc.; etc. We've built an entire ecosystem around giving it. But when advice becomes the thing we value most, something gets lost - real outcomes.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger spoke often and with conviction about the company’s future. He talked about driving innovation across the business, advanced chip manufacturing and about reclaiming Intel’s leadership. You could tell he believed the turnaround was real.

But if we look at the timeline, we see a different story. By August 2024 Intel had announced plans to lay off 15,000 employees—15% of its workforce—and cut $10 billion in costs. By December, Gelsinger was out entirely. And just last week, Intel announced plans to lay off an additional 5,000 workers.

While Intel faced genuine structural challenges that any CEO would have inherited, the disconnect between communication and execution reveals a broader pattern across today's business.

We’ve entered an era where talking about results has become more valuable than actually getting them.

When Advice Becomes the Product

Companies spent $526 billion on content marketing in 2024. That’s a 16.6% jump from the year before. Nearly half of all businesses increased their content budgets, with some spending over $45,000 per month just to sound informed on innovation and leadership.

Steve Blank calls it "innovation theater"—when companies perfect the performance of progress while their actual innovation metrics stay flat or decline. Companies focus on appearing cutting-edge rather than actually being innovative through the difficult work of real transformation.

When we look at Intel, we see that while Gelsinger gave speeches about semiconductor breakthroughs, Intel’s stock dropped 60%, and the company posted a $16.6 billion loss.

Intel's story reflects a broader challenge facing today's executives. Recent research from Harvard Business School reveals a reality of modern leadership. CEOs now work an average of 62.5 hours per week, with 72% of that time spent in meetings. A full quarter of their work is dedicated to external communications—shaping how their companies are perceived by the outside world.

With schedules so fragmented, this leaves precious little time for deep, uninterrupted focus. This raises a critical question for today's leaders: how do you balance the constant demand for external visibility with the need to drive internal results?

Intel isn’t unique. More and more, executives have become professional explainers of work that other people need to do. The performance became the job.

People might notice a company’s post about celebrating innovation culture or embracing failure, but they rarely remember it. What they do remember is when things go wrong—especially if the message and the reality don’t match. And how people were treated in that moment—that’s what stays with them.

A friend of mine, a brilliant trade expert Shaquana “Shaq” Teasley - DBS, CCS, MSLR , captured this perfectly: “Be cautious of non-expert opinions on how to thrive in the global market—fines, penalties, and seizures are very real.”

We’re all watching self-proclaimed experts give advice every single day on topics they know nothing about on every platform. And when those voices come with huge followings, the risks multiply. The cost of

following misguided advice isn't just lost time—it's very real consequences.

Nearly two-thirds of young consumers say they’ll pay more for brands they see as genuinely authentic. But authenticity isn’t something you can message your way into. It’s built quietly—through consistent actions most people never see.

Measuring What Matters

The research shows that only 29% of companies can actually connect their thought leadership content to real sales. Another 19% admit they have no way to measure if their advice-giving is working at all.

Executives think customers trust them far more than customers actually do. There’s a 60-point gap between what CEOs believe and reality. That gap has been growing since 2022.

When companies prioritize performance over substance, the impact goes beyond individual businesses. It misdirects capital, slows real innovation, and erodes trust in the market.

Companies sound like they’re changing the world while their actual world stays exactly the same.

Over the course of many years, I’ve worked closely with and advised some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and visionary founders. Leaders who didn’t just build something once, but led companies through uncertainty, pressure, and reinvention—sometimes more than once. What stayed with me wasn’t just their clarity or grit—it was who they were when no one was watching. Thoughtful, generous, caring people. Many became close friends and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.

And when I think about what real leadership looks like, it’s rarely found in the big speeches or the mission slides.

It’s the decisions made when the stakes are high and the outcomes aren’t clear. The calm leaders bring when the room is tense and people are watching closely. The choice to hold on to values, even when quicker, easier paths are right there. These moments usually unfold behind closed doors—but they shape how people feel. And they notice, long before the outside world ever does.

In a world where content is everywhere, the instinct is to say more, add context, reframe the story. But the leaders who earn lasting trust aren’t the ones who explain the most—they’re the ones whose actions remain steady when no one’s asking for an explanation. What people look for isn’t more language - It’s alignment. And that shows up quietly, over time, when no one’s watching.

That matters now more than ever. Trust in leadership is under real pressure—only 21% of U.S. employees strongly agree that they trust their organization's leaders. At the same time, a recent study revealed that most company values are falling short—only 24% define the behaviors needed to live those values, and when they do, engagement doubles.

So holding to values isn't symbolic - it's strategic. The companies where people can see the values in action aren't just more trusted—they're more aligned, and they perform better.

"Innovation theater" might get companies press coverage etc. but authentic innovation will get results that speak louder than any presentation ever could. The companies that win long-term stopped optimizing for applause and started optimizing for outcomes. Just look at Nvidia—while others talked about AI, they quietly delivered 171% stock growth in 2024 by building the infrastructure that made AI real.

The content economy isn't slowing down. If anything, it's accelerating. Which means the companies that break through won't be the ones who get better at the performance—they'll be the ones who stop performing. The question isn't whether you can out-talk your competition. It's whether you can out-deliver them while they're still talking.

At Khaleda Global Advisors, we partner with executive teams to close the gap between what their company says and what their company actually does. Quiet alignment. Clear decisions. Real traction. Get in touch