How to develop Executive Presence - one moment at a time
Do you know how some people manage to own the room? Do you enjoy speaking up, only to be ignored and feel invisible?
Perhaps you’ve read a book, taken training, or watched YouTube tutorials on Executive Presence. You go to implement the advice and you may notice a slight improvement, but you realize none of it leads to the command presence you are looking for.
There may be other times when you are not really even trying, but everyone is looking to you to lead. Your recommendations are met with nods of approval. Others look to you to validate their ideas and next steps.
What is going on here? What makes the difference? Is it just luck or random circumstance that you have no Executive Presence in some situations and lots to spare in others? Why is the mechanism that generates Executive Presence so elusive?
What if you could simply press a button and generate Executive Presence on the spot? Would that be useful for your career?
If you don’t understand how Executive Presence is generated, you’re leaving it to chance whether anything you do will generate it. This means if you only spend time on how you look, sound, and stand, this won’t be enough.
To generate Executive Presence people must feel a very specific way about you.
Executive Presence is the ability to inspire confidence that you can lead in a given situation.
Notice how this is an ever-changing scenario. Each situation may require a different approach. Each group, in fact, each individual in the group, will form their own opinion about how they feel about you. And each person, you, or me, or your leaders, will have different skills and abilities they can bring to bear.
Once you start to understand what is going on, and how Executive Presence is truly generated, you begin to see why most books, training, or video tutorials will not help you. Executive Presence is dynamic. A list of to-do’s is not.
So what can you do?
To help those who are serious about improving their Executive Presence I’ve created a free tool - the Executive Presence Generator.
It’s easy to use and gets to the heart of creating Executive Presence. Each time you click the button, a different question is generated. Each question looks at a facet of what creates Executive Presence. To put a finer point on it, each question asks you how you can enter a state of being that will demonstrate your ability to lead in a given moment.
Click here to go the EXECUTIVE PRESENCE GENERATOR and follow the 3 EZPZ steps below.
Step 1. Answer the question
Step 2. Enter the state of being needed to lead
Step 3. Enjoy Executive Presence
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
We can spend a large part of the next year debating the pros and cons of virtual work. Even if you don't work from home, you are still virtual when you have a phone call or any other interaction that is not physically in-person. Life is not all about your job, either. You may also have many other virtual meetings with friends, family, and various associations.
The Challenge
One question I've been hearing a lot more is:
How do you project Executive Presence when you are not physically present?
It's a great question and will become even more relevant as more and more work (and other interactions) become virtual.
The good news is there is one, EZPZ step you can take to have amazing virtual Executive Presence. I'm not going to tell you to talk more, project your voice, or adjust your video camera. There's lots of advice on how to have better virtual calls, but this is not our focus today. Our sole concern is how do you have Executive Presence virtually?
The solution requires us to properly frame the question. People with Executive Presence inspire confidence in others that they can lead in a given context. So the key is not how you sound or appear, but in how you lead.
The Shift
The next time you attend a virtual meeting, whether you are assigned to lead it or not, ask yourself,
"What is the goal of this meeting and how can I help advance the goal?"
The one and only step you need to take to have amazing virtual Executive Presence is to provide whatever is needed in that meeting to help meet the goal. That’s it.
Sometimes, it means you ask a question.
Sometimes it means you talk more.
Sometimes it means you talk less.
Perhaps you engage people who can help, but for whatever reason are not involved, yet.
At the end of the call, if you play an outsized role in helping meet the goal of the meeting, you will be the one everyone remembers as having amazing virtual Executive Presence.
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.