Executive Presence: The Six Essential Elements
Professionals sometimes don't understand that if you're doing great work but still being passed over for promotion or not getting the assignments or projects you'd like, you're probably missing something essential other than competence or even excellence. Great work product will keep you employed, but only those who can combine great work with executive presence will reach the greatest heights of success.
So, what is executive presence?
Executive presence is the ability to authentically communicate quiet confidence, intellectual authority and inspiring leadership to other leaders.
This definition has a lot of parts. Here are some things to remember:
You can't fake executive presence.
While executive presence is a teachable skill that you can develop over time, it is impossible to fake. To improve your presence, highlight your strengths and downplay your weaknesses versus trying to "act the part" of an executive. Be authentic, always.
Taking an honest inventory of your existing behaviors and habits should be your first step in working to build your executive presence. Understanding your natural behavior patterns - including which behaviors will bolster and which will hinder your efforts - will help you figure out what executive presence will look like for you.
Remember: there is no formula for executive presence. Each individual's ability to project confidence and authority will come from different behaviors that are natural to them. Don't let an aversion to public speaking, for example, convince you that you'll never be able to project the executive presence you want.
Executive presence is achieved through all forms of communication.
When thinking about communicating executive presence, many people immediately imagine a speaker confidently delivering a TED talk, or a CEO making an impressive presentation to the board of directors. These types of direct, verbal communication can place executive presence in the spotlight, but we are always communicating with the world, whether or not our voices are being heard.
Think about the image you are projecting through your:
Personal grooming and hygiene
Professional attire
Gestures and "speaking with your hands"
Facial expressions
Tone of voice
Use of filler words or sounds
Body language and posture
Written communications
These are just a few of the many ways you communicate with the world that you can think about and make consistent with how you want to be perceived.
Executive presence requires quiet confidence.
Projecting confidence is an essential part of building your executive presence, but overconfidence, intimidation and swagger rarely make a positive impression.
Confidence that leads to compelling presence appears effortless because it is generated from within and is not dependent on the outside world for validation or reaction. An individual who is secure in herself and doesn't need to dominate a conversation in order to prove her point draws people to her rather than shooting them down. This is the kind of confidence that increases executive presence.
Think about injecting your confidence with generosity; because you believe you have something valuable to share with the world, your confidence allows you to give to others rather than demand from those around you.
Executive presence requires intellectual authority.
This is where a rigorous understanding of the work you do intersects with executive presence. An executive who speaks with undue confidence about topics he knows little about doesn't inspire; instead, he becomes known as a con man.
Intellectual authority means understanding what you need to know, what you already know, and what you need others to educate you about. Being willing and able to accurately assess all three of these measures will bolster credibility and authority.
People with executive presence wield the power to inspire others.
No executive can run an enterprise by himself. Every leader needs a team of capable individuals surrounding them in order to make the business move. Executive presence inspires team members to work with and for executives toward a common goal and thereby inspires the next generation of leaders to rise up.
Recognizing the contributions of others, making space for others' opinions and findings, and passing the mic when appropriate are all excellent ways to develop executive presence with team members and colleagues.
Executive presence is relative, so be aware.
Each leader must find her own path to executive presence that highlights her particular skill set, but you must also understand what your organization values in order to fit the bill. Looking to other successful leaders within your organization will provide important clues to what characteristics are valued.
Also, realize that the characteristics that are valuable in your current organization might not be as valued in another. Before interviewing for a new position or giving a presentation outside your home office, do what you can to learn about that organization's leaders and how they show up as executives. Make sure you are assessing your own strengths against your audience's expectations in order to get the greatest dividend.
The Atalanta Group offers bespoke training programs and tailored individual coaching engagements to increase executive presence in your workforce. To learn more, schedule a consultation call:
