Executive presence is not necessarily about being the loudest in the room (*caveat below). I think we all know loud people who do not make the right impression, just how we can all think of quieter, yet compelling leaders. Different people can still have executive presence in their own style. In fact, executive presence ideally incorporates showing the “best” version of yourself, and staying authentic while you’re doing it.
Then what *is* executive presence?
Executive presence is often defined through the impact it makes: “the ability to make a compelling impression,” for instance. That’s quite frustrating: we understand that it matters—Sylvia Ann Hewitt goes as far as to name her book “Executive Presence: The Missing Link between Power and Success”—but we all want to know exactly how to create that impression! There are quite a few books on the elements of executive presence (e.g. this or that) and certainly part of presence goes beyond how we communicate. Our appearance, reputation, experience, etc. all feed into the impression we make.
When it comes to communication in particular, I think there are a few internal “keys” to executive presence and today I will talk about one, a fundamental stepping stone to what I call “finding your voice” i.e. your own authentic style of executive presence: Conviction.
One of my clients works for an NGO which helps the world’s poorest people. Feedback showed he was struggling with executive presence, in particular in difficult conversations. He is a kind, compassionate leader, and delivering hard messages felt out of character for him. This reluctance showed, and made him less effective than he could have been. In our conversations we talked about what fueled his motivation on his job. “Why are you here?” I asked him. He spoke passionately about how deeply he believed in the mission of his organization and the importance of their work. And this is what ultimately helped him “find his voice:” the realization that by not delivering the hard messages, he was doing a disservice to this mission. He was at his most compelling when making the connection to his cause.
Conviction is believing in what you are saying and, most importantly, thinking that it matters; that it makes a difference in this world.
Conviction is believing in what you are saying and, most importantly, thinking that it matters; that it makes a difference in this world. Certainly, that belief will get you to stand up and be counted. And others will take note of that, too.
Not all of us work for NGOs who are trying to eradicate poverty, and that’s fine. What matters is how strongly you believe in your point of view; how much you are convinced that your words are delivering value (no matter what that value is). Another leader I work with is an executive in a tech company. In my 360 interviews for her, I asked people: what can you tell me about her executive presence? Does she come across as credible? And people kept answering by referring to her passion: “she is incredibly passionate about what she does,” “cares deeply about creating a good product.” She was passionate almost to a fault; it got her into trouble sometimes. But people did not doubt she had executive presence. I would call that “passion” Conviction.
How do you inject a little shot of conviction in your communication? Well, I don’t believe you can fake conviction. You need to unearth it. I often work with my clients in executive coaching to help them articulate what they care about and why. It can be quite a long process of self discovery, and sometimes it results in people changing jobs, or even careers. But it does not have to: a quick tip is looking over a presentation you’ll deliver and really trying to remind yourself why it matters to you; why it adds value; and what you would like to make sure you convey. Having a point of view is a fundamental leadership skill: I wrote about it in my first blog post.
In my future “Executive Presence” blog posts I will talk about some of the other “keys” to executive communication: Confidence, Connection, and Choosing words deliberately.
Until then, I hope that you take a minute to think about what drives your conviction. And if your current job absolutely does not align to it, that’s a whole different conversation altogether (you might want to read my post about Values).
*Caveat: Research shows there is indeed a connection between how extroverted you are and the status you might achieve in a face-to-face group (e.g. see this study) but that is not the full story. Things like the speed, content, and deliberate choice of your words can mitigate this effect.
