LinkedIn: Is showing off and posing now socially acceptable on the business platform?

"If you're a high performer, then you know: shoes are a statement," writes management consultant Andreas Baulig (35) in one of his many riot-inducing LinkedIn posts: "And that's exactly why I wear Louboutins - because they embody exactly what I expect from myself: class, quality, and dominance."

Is this satire? Anyone who spends a lot of time on LinkedIn—after all, you want to be and remain visible —is probably asking themselves this question more often these days. It's teeming with poseur posts celebrating their own professional success with good old status symbol thinking: Look, my watch, my new office, my luxury workation—I can afford all of it because I made the right decisions at work!

Did someone just watch a few too many episodes of "Succession" or "The White Lotus" and is now trying to recreate the One Percent vibe – at least on social media? Or what's going on?

Unfortunately, it's impossible to prevent the unbearable success stories of self-appointed consultants, coaches, or gurus from ending up on your timeline sooner or later. Because even professional contacts you previously considered perfectly reasonable are now offering applause: Yes, you should be proud of what you've accomplished , no more boring German modesty!

Understatement was once considered a virtue in this country. At least, it was a stylish recognition that while luxury may be pleasant, success cannot be measured in flashy status symbols. Now, the motto seems to be: go big or go home.

This also has to do with the laws of the attention economy, of course: The more brutal the message on the internet, the more reactions it generates. So bragging is in, at least among all those who firmly believe in their success mindset. First the Swiss watch, then the annual financial statements—that seems to be the logic that hustle culture is only too happy to trust.

As a result, an embarrassing horsepower comparison develops in the digital space on a continuous loop. The question is, how do you counter the new braggartism in the workplace? Probably with the only tactic that takes the wind out of the sails of braggarts and saves your nerves: ignore.