Do you really need Executive Presence to advance your career? If you look around your department, your company, or even your industry, it seems the answer is clear. Not really. There are plenty of successful, hard-working, and well-compensated leaders who seem to have zero Executive Presence. You acknowledge their skills in other areas, but you wouldn't trust them to lead you out of a paper bag and certainly not into battle.

What is going on here? Are you missing something? Who are the leaders who hand-picked this leader to lead? Who are the people who choose to follow them? Is everyone else seeing or feeling something you just can't figure out, no matter how hard you try? Who is right, you or them? As it turns out, and as I was surprised to learn, both.

Two Mistakes

As I struggled with these questions, I realized the answer was based on two principles that I failed to grasp. The first principle is related to the true nature of Executive Presence. It's not about being the best talker, having the most gravitas, or monologuing like a leader in a movie. That's just window dressing and as I like to remind myself,

The trappings are just the wrappings.

What Executive Presence is really about is "the ability to inspire confidence that you can lead in a given situation." That's it. All you need for Executive Presence is for people to believe you can get the job done. And with very few exceptions, that is why those leaders get the job or rather, the opportunity to do the job over someone else.

"I'm just not seeing it, Joe. They don't feel like a leader to me."

I hear you. Sometimes we can have a totally different experience of someone than others do. This is a good segue into the second principle. Executive Presence is not some universally recognized attribute that you carry around like a birth mark or a tattoo. Executive Presence is a feeling one person has towards another person. It exists in the space or energy between two people.

This is why it is perfectly understandable that you may not find someone to have Executive Presence while others do. Perhaps they don't live up to your preconceptions or desires for a leader. Perhaps you haven't seen them in enough situations. In any case, the people who put them where they are, assuming they did so while being ethical, picked that leader because they believed he or she could get the job done.

Once you start seeing Executive Presence in this clear light, a whole new world (cue Disney’s Aladdin music) becomes available to you. Instead of comparing a leader against your ideals, you can expand your thinking to understand how they are inspiring confidence in others. Sometimes, it’s just that you were not aware. Sometimes it is something that you do not value, but others do. In any case, understanding this is the key to your own Executive Presence.

The Shift

So the next time you are baffled by the seeming lack of Executive Presence of a leader, take a step back and take a fresh look with this framework in mind. You may be surprised at what you learn.

Remember, your Executive Presence sets the ceiling of your success.

Learn more

This article was adapted from the new leadership book, Unlock Your Executive Presence: Feel like a Boss. Find it here, along with other books from the Unlock Your Leadership series.

Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor is a leadership coach and keynote speaker who helps elevate careers by unlocking the ability to better connect with yourself and others. Contact him if you'd like his help.

To find out more and to access free leadership videos, podcasts, and guides, go to www.connectioncounselor.com.