What the Algorithm Can’t Measure
Influence isn’t something you build. It’s something you’ve been given to carry.
There’s a line in this recent Adweek article that stuck with me:
“True cultural influence isn’t just about sparking a trend, it’s about sustaining a rhythm.”
That sentence echoes something I’ve been feeling for a while now: that influence isn’t earned through virality alone. It’s built through stewardship, consistency, truth carried over time; not just trends captured in seconds.
The article calls it cultural choreography; the idea that today’s most resonant creators aren’t following the beat of the algorithm. They’re setting their own pace. Guiding culture, not chasing it. And I get that because I’ve seen it and lived it but here’s what I’d add:
You can’t choreograph a culture you haven’t agreed to carry!
Influence isn’t just about creative output, it’s about alignment. It’s about becoming someone who can hold what you're building without folding under it. You can grow an audience, but if you haven’t grown in agreement with your assignment, you’ll always feel out of sync, even when the numbers say you’re winning.
Here’s what I’d add to the conversation: They describe it as cultural fluency, but I see it as spiritual agreement. While they focus on creators adapting, I think about creators becoming; not just shifting with trends, but stepping into what they've truly been called to carry. Their perspective isn’t wrong, but it feels incomplete. It overlooks the deeper layer, the slower work, the sacred responsibility.
For the creators who feel unseen:
This is for the ones who’ve been choreographing culture in the shadows.
The ones who’ve carried language, sound, style, or strategy that others now monetize.
The ones who didn’t just go viral but set the vibration.
If that’s you, I’m here to say: the work is still working. Even when it hasn’t been credited. Even when it doesn’t trend. Your influence didn’t start on a platform, and it doesn’t end with a view count.
I saw this come to life just yesterday while coaching a client through the Four Seats of Influence, a framework we use at Now Influencing to help creators get clear on the truth they carry and how to properly steward it. At first, he thought his challenge was content. He wasn’t sure what to say or how to show up but the real shift happened when he named the truth he was carrying.
That clarity helped him recognize and understand something deeper. His influence was never about output alone. It was about the truth he was uniquely positioned to carry. Once he saw that, everything changed.
Want to go deeper?
At Now Influencing, we work with creators, founders, and visionaries who are ready to stop performing for platforms and start stewarding their real influence.
Whether you're building a brand, launching a show, or simply tired of chasing relevance, we help you come into agreement with your assignment, clarify what you're called to carry, and activate influence from a place of clarity, not chaos.
If you’re also rethinking what influence means in this moment, you're not alone. Share your thoughts in the comments; we’re building this rhythm together.
In Perspective,
Jey