What is Executive Presence in leadership? How can you elevate your executive presence and unlock potential?
Have you ever noticed when a great leader enters a room or begins to speak and communicate, they command attention and focus? They communicate with purpose, impact, clarity and project a powerful presence, gravitas and a magnetic. Furthermore, the impact of their presence connects, influences, persuades, motivates, ultimately driving vision, action and success.
I often tell my clients:
“Your executive presence has the potential to be a catalyst for positive change and success. you can inspire and motivate others to trust and feel confident not only in you but ultimately within themselves and unlock potential… to be game-changers, to take action, to be open to surfing the waves of challenges and change and to succeed”
Executive presence and confidence is not sought from others first; executive presence and confidence is developed first and foremost within each individual leader and consequently it is then projected and communicated to others in service of inspiring and influencing motivation, action, results and success.
So how can you elevate your executive presence and unlock potential?
Executive Presence Defined:
Sylvia Ann Hewlett describes Executive Presence:
“It is executive presence—and no man or woman attains a top job, lands an extraordinary deal, or develops a significant following without this heady combination of confidence, poise, and authenticity that convinces the rest of us we’re in the presence of someone who’s the real deal. It’s an amalgam of qualities that telegraphs that you are in charge or deserve to be”.
No longer considered an elusive and exclusive ‘you’re born with it’ trait or talent, executive presence can be defined as a set of skills and traits which can be cultivated, learned, developed and acquired over time. It is also vital to invest in your professional development and executive presence and leadership confidence if you wish to advance your career, upscale your strengths, develop your growth points, and to influence, persuade and inspire the very best within others.
You may also have the skillset, the credibility, the dedication and the experience, but if you do not communicate executive presence, you may be overlooked or rejected for a promotion and career advancement. Worse still, if you are a currrent leader, you and your team or organisation may not be fulfilling and achieving your full potential and achieving results.
However, whilst executive presence can be defined within many different frameworks or theoretical models, it’s equally important to develop your own authentic leadership style and unique executive presence identity and blueprint in service of communication, connection and as a catalyst for unlocking potential and inspiring change transformation results and ultimately success.
A framework model for developing executive presence:
The 7 C’s of executive presence framework is a helpful model/structural framework and guide. The 7 C’s are as follows:
Composure: how you effectively manage emotions, communicate emotional intelligence, and how you communicate poise and remain calm under pressure.
Connection: How you can adapt, communicate leadership authenticity, and connect and effectively communicate with a variety of people within different situations and dynamics.
Charisma: How a leader projects and communicates with personal magnetism, leadership storytelling, and character to develop deep connections which drive inspiration, motivation, strategy, action and results.
Confidence: self-assuredness, commanding a room, making and communicating clear decisions, how you communicate assertiveness, how you lead with confidence and lead with purpose and intention.
Credibility: your reputation, your track record, your experience, how you develop and show trust and how you deliver results.
Clarity and Conciseness: how you lead with purpose, communicate with purpose and how you are clear and concise when speaking or communicating.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett says executive presence can also be condensed into 3 pillars of executive presence and the percentage of impact and influence.
- Gravitas: 67% how you act/carry yourself
- Communication: 28% how you speak/ influence
- Appearance: 5% how you present yourself (visual, body language, tone)
(Source: Sylvia Hewlett, Executive Presence 2.0 Leadership in the Age of Inclusion, Harper Business Publications, 2023)
Executive Presence Challenges:
There are many ambitious professionals, emerging leaders and experienced leaders who feel stuck, lacking in confidence or clarity and unable to embrace or communicate executive presence despite their impressive skillset, experience, track record, reputation credibility and dedication to their roles.
For example, some leaders may apply for a promotion only to be told they have all the qualities, skills and experience but they lack ‘executive presence’. Others may find it challenging to communicate with clarity and confidence and are often unseen, unheard and overlooked. Furthermore, situational leadership plays a part i.e. a leader may feel confident with one group of people or a situation i.e. peers or junior colleagues and able to show executive presence, yet within another group or situation they lose composure and confidence (for example, with board meetings). Female leaders may experience leadership loneliness, imposter syndrome, leadership identity issues or find it challenging to command attention within, for example, male-dominated industries. Whilst other leaders may find it difficult to communicate with clarity and confidence, to build trust, connection, resilience and emotional intelligence. Alternatively, some leaders may find it difficult to establish authentic leadership and authority (especially with competition or the rise of AI). These challenges impact trust, confidence, motivation and drive, strategy and performance. The list of examples could go on…
The Power of Executive Presence Coaching
Here are just some of the main ways you could enhance your executive presence and strengthen your leadership confidence:
- Strengthen your leadership skills and leadership impact
- Elevate your executive presence and unlock potential
- Show up, own the room and communicate leadership presence.
- Improve your leadership visibility
- Communicate authentic leadership
- Develop your leadership identity.
- Lead with purpose and communicate purpose
- Lead with clarity and communicate clarity
- Lead with vision and communicate vision
- Lead with confidence and communicate with confidence
- Lead with intention and communicate intention
- Lead with impact and communicate with impact
- Communicate emotional intelligence and build resilience
- Develop empathetic leadership and leadership vulnerability
- Communicate authority and command attention
- Leadership adaptability
- Overcome imposter syndrome and self-doubt.
- Improve your communication skills
- Persuade and influence
- Motivate your team and inspire others
- Present with clarity confidence and impact.
- Present with clarity and confidence in virtual meetings.
- Develop leadership composure.
- Develop gravitas, leadership charisma and magnetism.
- Inspire change transformation and results.
- Build trust and connection.
- Improve your non-verbal communication skills
- Improve your verbal communication skills
- Develop your visual image and message.
- Leadership succession and change management confidence
- Communicate authentic leadership.
- Become an influential leader.
- Communicate credibility.
- Advance your leadership career.
- Be promoted with confidence.
- Own the room and command attention.
- Present with clarity and conciseness
- Leadership interview confidence
- Delegate with confidence.
- Drive vision and performance.
- Present with purpose, present with clarity, present with confidence and present with poise.
- Improve productivity and efficiency.
- Communicate with gravitas.
- Develop charisma and communicate charisma.
- Improve your time management skills.
- Develop leadership storytelling skills
- Build calm authority and composure
- Inspire action, accountability and responsibility
- Develop and communicate your leadership identity, style, brand, your blueprint and USP.
- Develop your leadership voice
- Deliver with presence and power
- Confident decision-making
- Communicate with impact, clarity, composure and confidence during challenges.
- Improve conflict management.
- Upscale your strengths and improve your weaknesses and growth points.
- Create your leadership legacy.
- Drive ambition, inspire action, success, and results.
Conclusion
How you communicate, impact, inspire and positively influence others are the building blocks and catalyst for change, transformation confidence, trust, clarity and success.
Embodying and communicating effective and powerful executive presence can mean the difference between whether you’re experienced as a good leader who inspires merit or you’re experienced as a great leader who inspires others to take action and achieve top results and success.
Sheryl Sandberg says:
“Leadership Is About Making Others Better As A Result Of Your Presence And Making Sure That Impact Lasts In Your Absence”
So how can executive presence coaching help you?
If you would like to elevate your executive presence and unlock potential, why not connect with me. Executive Presence Coaching and Executive Presence mentoring can support you to work towards developing your own leadership identity, voice and blueprint, advance your career, inspire others, lead with purpose, communicate with impact and drive vision and more. When you invest in your leadership development you invest not only within yourself but for your team, your people, your clients, organisation, wider dynamics and the future.
Connect with me via my Executive Coaching London website to enquire further about how Executive Presence Coaching and Executive Presence Mentoring services could support you to elevate your executive presence and how you can become an influential leader www.samanthamorris.coach or [email protected].