11: Inigo Montoya - The Six-Fingered Man

Monday, July 19, 2021

Today: What does being resolute have to do with executive presence? Find out how executive presence works and what it means for you.

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Music: Earning Happiness by John Bartmann is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License

“Remember, it’s not what you say, do, or wear. It’s how you make people feel that generates executive presence. Nothing. Else. Matters.”

There is a common misconception when it comes to executive presence and the results that it gets. A lot of people think that if you have executive presence, then everyone will always just go along with your idea or what you want to do, no matter what.

And nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if you are counted on to do something important as an executive, which means it's something that not just anyone could do, you should count on getting resistance, people trying to do something against your efforts for their own intentions, or because they think it's the best intentions for the team, or the company.

So what really marks an executive and why people feel you have executive presence is another one of the six degrees of executive presence. This is the second one after proactive I call it being resolute and resolute means marked by firm determination.

So what that means is when resistance is encountered, and you should expect it to happen at times, because what you're doing is not an easy thing. How do you respond? Do you just flip-flop? Or do you start to doubt yourself or reverse direction at the sign of the slightest unrest, or unpopularity? Or do you firmly proceed with your original idea and plan?

Now, being resolute shouldn't be misunderstood as being stubborn, or being obstinate. Someone with executive presence, when they understand that there's a better way to go, and when the data and their intuition shows that maybe their original plan was not the best, they're also able to adapt and change.

So the key is, are you resolute until it's time not to be doing that same thing anymore? And people really look for that in people they follow because they don't really want to follow someone who's constantly changing their mind or can be so easily swayed or convinced to do things another way. It gives people whiplash, or it's a feeling of motion sickness or sea sickness. I hate that feeling. Because you just don't know which way that person is coming or going.

A fun example, I love from “The Princess Bride” about someone being resolute is the character Inigo Montoya. For decades, he's searching for the Six Fingered man, the man who the villainously killed his father when he wouldn't sell the sword for a really cheap price.

So for years and years, he's searching for this Six Fingered man asking people when he meets them, "Excuse me, do you happen to have six fingers?" And when he finally does meet the Six Fingered man and gets into a sword duel with him, and the man realizes that he's going to lose, he tries to waffle his way out of it and offer Inigo, money, power, whatever he wants. But of course, that's not going to bring back Inigo's father, and he doesn't accept any of that and he kills the Six Fingered man.

So think about the quality, the state of being, being resolute when you're in a situation where you need to show executive presence — especially when you anticipate that there will be some resistance or some difference of opinion. And remember, it doesn't mean being stubborn. It means being firm and determined, until it's time to adapt or change.

Thanks for listening to Executive Presence Morsels, this is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor. Remember, it's not what you say, do or wear, it's how you make people feel that generates executive presence. Nothing else matters.