A large group of my clients is in middle management. They got there by being very good at what they did as individual contributors and then learning about management as they continued their career march. However, once they get to a point where their next promotion is director or above one of the major impediments to their further advancement is their executive presence. Many learn about this during the annual performance review, when they are eagerly awaiting their fate for their next promotion and come back devastated, mostly because until then they were not even aware of what that phrase really meant and, even more disturbing, that they do not have it.
Hmmm!
Although many have the notion that executive presence means looking like a movie star, having a deep commanding voice, being right all the time, and having all the answers to the worlds problems, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it has little to do with your natural physical attributes, but more with how you carry yourself in everyday situations. This blog is about working on this mysterious and misunderstood attributeexecutive presenceand what one can do to improve their chances for their next promotion by practicing how to wear that mantle.
More than anything else, executive presence has more to do with how you are able to influence others, especially your peers and the higher-ups, in your work environment in a variety of situationsmeetings, one-on-ones, gatherings, and other ad hoc situations. To begin with there are four factors that are critical to your ability to influence others:
How you look
How you present yourself
What you say, and
How you say it
Let us look at each one and break it down to something that becomes manageable for anyone in an everyday work environment.
How you look has more to do with how you carry yourself in your work environment that creates your presence than your good looks. This includes your dress, your demeanor, and your body language. Dressing well does not mean wearing a new suit every day to work, but what it implies is that you do not draw attention to your clothes before people around have a chance to look at your work, your thoughts, and your contribution to a problem at hand. Even if you wear everyday clothes you can look presentable so that you do not stand out from the others around you, one way or the other. This look has also to do with how you create a certain natural aura about yourself, without being aloof or arrogant. This is a learned skill. This is also an important element of your EQ (your emotional intelligence)
How you present yourself has to do with having the right strategies that are appropriate in a given work environment. In a high-level executive meeting saying the right few words at the right time and then listening to how that generates reaction from the right people in the room and how others respond it, in turn, is one example of this attribute. In other situations if you know what you present creates the right impact that is appropriate in that context is another manifestation of how you present yourself. This requires self-awareness, self-confidence, and the right way to communicate your thoughts, which brings us to our next factor:
What you say has to do with your knowledge of a situation, its context, and your insight on this topic. So, you must have some thoughts, prepared or extempore, on the topic being discussed in a situation. Saying it also at the right moment is a part of this skill.
And, finally, how you say it is equally as important as what you say, because, often, the medium (how you say it) becomes the message. So, if in a serious meeting you present your thoughts in a few carefully chosen words that drive your point home is more memorable and impactful than droning on and on and with a rambling discourse. This, too, is a learned skill. This can be improved with practicing your speaking skills, learning the right vocabulary, and by listening to great orators or speeches on how they use rhetoric to communicate more effectively.
Breaking down executive presence with this approach makes mastering it much easier and within reach for anyone willing to practice these four skills. The other aspect of this development is going back to your boss and giving them a plan of action along these lines and then asking them what other elements are missing in your repertoire to be a commanding leader. This latter aspect has to do with making the higher-ups aware that you are willing to conquer something that is important to you in your growthand in your organizations successas well.
Good luck!
| About Author | |
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Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader. |
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