This Billionaire, Like You, Was Never Googled, Until Now
Imagine you’ve spent your life, which by now has spanned more than one hundred years, amassing an impeccable reputation. Part of that reputation is built on the inherent humility of avoiding the limelight despite being a billionaire within the crazy world of New York City real estate development. Then, out of the blue you are thrust front and center for being complicit in a scheme that earned New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver hundreds of thousands of dollars, led to him losing his leadership position in the assembly, and for which he is currently on trial.
All of a sudden your name is as well known outside of your profession as it is inside your profession. Well, maybe that’s a stretch since your name is legendary within your profession. The point is that articles are being written about you and your role in the scandal. And, what usually accompanies an article, whether online or in print? That’s right…a photo.
Having avoided attention for so long, few photos exist of you. In fact, a quick Google search reveals two photos: The first is a corporate head shot that has likely been provided by your company in the past. It is a nice shot that reinforces the stature you have earned. Someone in your office probably spent a lot of time convincing you that you needed at least one good photo just in case the need should arise. The second photo available is actually a series of photos that were taken three years prior at an event honoring you. Within the series you are standing next to everyone from your daughter to another honoree. News organizations are either using the corporate head shot or cropping you out of the event photos taken three years prior.
Here they are. I won’t even bother asking IF you can identify which one was cropped from a group photo.
If you had a choice of which photo to put into the universe under the headline “Developer Thrust into Scandal,” which would it be?
The man in these photos is Leonard Litwin. He is currently playing the part of you in the scenario I described above.
I would choose the photo on the bottom for what I believe to be obvious reasons - the biggest of which is that it is just a more flattering photo. The color is better. The angle is better. Mr. Litwin’s expression is better.
In the end though, this blog entry is not about Mr. Litwin. Take away the fact that Mr. Litwin is a one-hundred-one year old New York real estate tycoon who was thrust into the news by one of the biggest political scandals since Eliot Spitzer’s brief stay at the Mayflower Hotel, and he is just like you or me. After all, don’t we all live in relative obscurity until someone goes searching for us and comes across our profile on LinkedIn or other social media? And yet, given a choice between cutting ourselves out of a snapshot or posting a professional head shot, millions of people choose the former.
Just as amazing, millions of people choose not to have any photo at all. The basic need for a good photo in your LinkedIn profile or company’s website is a topic for another day, but for now, the one piece of proof I will leave you with is to ask yourself why all of the editors in charge of publishing Mr. Litwin’s story, chose to include a photo of him?
In case nothing is coming to you, here’s the answer: Because it attracts and holds people’s attention far better than a bunch of text.















