A recent survey of over 250 senior executives conducted by the Center for Talent Innovation in New York revealed that ‘executive presence’ counts for 26% of what it takes to be promoted. Whether you agree or not with their methodology or the exact percentage, ‘executive presence’ matters. But what is it?
There is no set definition. Some articles simply call it the ability to project self-confidence and make tough decisions. Other writers and leaders throw up their hands and say it is a ‘wow factor’ or that they know it when they see it. Part of the challenge in defining executive presence with the goal of helping people increase their own is that the road to true executive presence is different for every individual; it is much more than a collection of traits that, when combined, create a ‘wow’ effect.
Many books and articles highlight the surface indicators of executive presence, how a leader looks, sounds and behaves. The recently published book Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success by Sylvia Ann Hewlett focuses heavily on these elements, even recommending that leaders hire image consultants or consider plastic surgery in order to enhance their presence. Executive presence absolutely encompasses these surface elements, but focusing on them exclusively creates the impression that there is a template set of behaviors or markers that distinguish a strong leader.
This effort to find the ‘magic bullet’ of executive presence is not new. When developing the well-known Strength Finders assessment tool, Gallup assessed a wide range of leaders believing they would find a defined combination of strengths that indicated strong leadership potential. They discovered the opposite: every leader surveyed had a unique combination of traits. Yet all were perceived as strong leaders, all had strong executive presence.
Learning a set of behaviors or changing our appearance may help craft the image of leadership, but authentic executive presence goes deeper, to the core beliefs of each individual. Though their strengths and aptitudes differed, every leader Gallup worked with had one thing in common: they believed in their own leadership ability, they knew their strengths and they knew where they needed support. In other words: they had a strong leadership identity that provided the foundation of their strong executive presence.
A leadership identity springs from an individual’s deeply rooted conception of self, the story they tell about themselves and their place in the world. If someone does not believe in their own leadership ability or potential, no amount of image consulting, public speaking training or behavioral coaching will significantly increase their executive presence. Cosmetic changes may distract from an incomplete or weak leadership identity, but they cannot mask it.
The development of authentic executive presence, then, must start from the inside. Once a baseline of confidence and strong leadership identity is established, executive presence can be enhanced through learned behaviors and changes in appearance or sound. The challenge is to first address the leader or potential leader’s internal narrative, bringing to the surface any blocks or resistance standing in the way of them fully realizing their leadership potential.
Over the coming weeks, I look forward to going into this subject much more deeply and looking at the unique challenges faced by women and multicultural leaders in building their executive presence and leadership identities. We also will look at specific strategies that can help address deeply rooted blocks and look at how different organizational cultures require different approaches to building executive presence.