When Your Visibility Disappears Overnight

A few weeks ago, my Instagram account was hacked. 

Not a forgotten password or a temporary glitch. A full-blown takeover by professionals who used my account to advertise Bitcoin services and message people directly.

Within hours, I had lost complete control.

After a painfully long battle, Instagram eventually shut the account down permanently and, just like that, eight years of photos, videos, memories, and, hardest of all, more than 1,300 connections were gone.

What made it even worse was the timing. I was only days away from launching my book, BOLDER: A Leadership Mindset and Framework Forged at the Edge, at the Presidential Palace in Timor-Leste. It was one of the biggest professional milestones of my life, and I wanted the people who had followed my journey over the years to be part of it.

Instead, I found myself starting from zero.


The Day Eight Years Disappeared

I was surprised by how emotional it felt.

At first, I was frustrated. Then I was sad. Then came the strange feeling that a small part of my identity had somehow been stolen and discarded.

If you've ever poured years into building a community, sharing stories, documenting experiences, and connecting with people around the world, you'll understand that social media accounts are more than just platforms. They become living archives of our journeys.

I had shared adventures from Antarctica and the Sahara, stories from remote communities in Timor-Leste, moments beneath the ocean's surface, lessons from leadership work, and countless memories that can never truly be recreated.
Losing it all felt surprisingly personal.


Visibility Creates Possibility

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Photo caption: Some of the bookmarks I created for the launch of BOLDER. "Visibility creates possibility" has taken on an entirely new meaning for me since then.

I often say that visibility creates possibility.

I believe that deeply. Visibility can open doors, spark collaborations, create opportunities, and connect us with people we may never have met otherwise.

But this experience made me realise something important. Our visibility does not live in an app. Not in Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook nor anywhere online. Real visibility lives somewhere much deeper.

It lives in:

• the impact we create
• the relationships we build
• the stories we share
• the trust we earn
• and the communities we nurture.

The platforms simply help us amplify those things. They are the microphone, not the message.


The Things That Can't Be Hacked

As the days passed, something unexpected happened. People began finding me again. Messages arrived, friends shared my new account, former colleagues reached out, and new connections started appearing. Within a month, hundreds of people had already found their way back.

It reminded me of something I often see in leadership.

Things change. Titles disappear, strategies fail, funding ends, organisations restructure, and entire careers can take unexpected turns. Sometimes, the things we have spent years building seem to unravel overnight.

But the things that matter most cannot be taken away so easily. Our values, our experiences, our relationships, our reputation, the way we make people feel, and the impact we leave behind are much more enduring than any platform, role, or job title. Those are the things that stay with us and, ultimately, the things people remember.


Sometimes Life Invites Us to Begin Again

​I certainly would not have chosen this experience. Rebuilding a community from scratch takes time, effort, and patience.

But perhaps there is also something powerful in beginning again. Starting over has a way of forcing us to ask some important questions: What truly matters? What are we trying to build? And who are we building it for?

In many ways, leadership asks exactly the same questions.

Because leadership is not about clinging to certainty or controlling every outcome. It is about learning to adapt when things change unexpectedly and finding the courage to begin again.

The truth is that none of us are immune to setbacks. Accounts get hacked, plans unravel, dreams take detours, and things we have worked hard to build can disappear overnight.
Yet those moments often remind us where our real foundations lie. Not in followers, titles, or perfectly curated feeds, but in our ability to reconnect, rebuild, and start again.

The things that matter most can't be hacked.
And that is exactly where our real visibility lives.

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