As a career and life coach I work with all levels of clients: from interns to CEOs and everyone in between. Before I engage with clients I ask them to complete my detailed Client Intake Questionnaire (CIQ), which requires thoughtful responses about their current needs and how they became aware of these needs. For most mid-level and senior managers, including executives (director and above) I’ve come to expect certain patterns of their needs that keep repeating CIQ after CIQ. In the rank order (the first one is the most listed need) they are: Executive presence, Communication, Managing upwards, Political quotient (PQ), and Effective Participation in high-level meetings. Although this is not a complete list of their needs as they grow in their executive ranks this list covers nearly 80% of what they think they need as a part of their development to further their career.

Executive Presence Defined

Executive presence is very much how you control a room, the impressions you make, and how you affect the people around you. It is also about your “presence” in your absence. In other words, you do not have to be physically present to make an impact in a situation; merely stating your name and your need or perspective in a meeting or gathering can convey your message in an unmistakable way. Also, It’s how you communicate verbally and through your appearance and physicality.

It’s not just appearance, such as how you look, but more how you communicate with people initially and convey your intentions. It’s not, are you an Adonis or Aphrodite?! Rather, It’s, Are you dressed and presenting appropriately, and do you look put together and powerful, and are you wearing clothes with confidence, or do you need to ratchet it up to signify your power and presence? If you have great presence, people will feel the remnants and echo of what you left behind when you leave a room—“Wow, I enjoyed what that person had to say, and I will take some action because of it.”

Why does developing good executive presence matter?

In business making an impression is not a choice; it’s a requirement. Whether you know it or not, eyes are going to be on you, and you’re never sure who is viewing you. You can make a great, bad, or neutral impression. Social events are opportunities to make new connections, and if you don’t make an effort, that’s a lost opportunity. And there’s also an opportunity to make a great first impression, and those people who are conscious of how they initially come off have a leg up on executive presence.

The picture above depicts two recent US Presidents who epitomize executive presence; each in his own way. As you read through the remainder of this blog try to imagine one of these leaders in situations described throughout this blog, recalling them from your memories of how they made an impression on you about their executive presence in each of those situations. A comparable example for female leaders would be Angela Merkle of Germany and Genni Rometty of IBM.

Charisma and Executive Presence

In management and popular writings the word “charisma” often pops up when someone is enamored of a particularly powerful leader. Charisma is defined as compelling attractiveness that inspires devotion in others. In this definition “attractiveness” has a certain implication of physical appeal to it. Physical appeal or beauty is something that is innate in a person and not a developed ability. But, to be able to attract others to you by virtue of how you engage with them and how you influence them is something that can be developed with your emotional intelligence and other skills, all of which are not innate. So, in this discussion on executive presence the topic of charisma is not worth further discussion other than knowing that charisma can be seen as an unstudied characteristic of a few, whereas executive presence is a studied and developed skill any person can master.

Developing your own executive presence

When it comes to executive presence, you want to make people feel like you’ve got their back and you can take care of it, whatever “it” is. It doesn’t mean you have every superpower—some things you’re going to be excellent at, and some you’ll just get through; it is about knowing the difference between the two. It is also about giving your followers the confidence that under your leadership that they will get a chance to do their best and you’ll have their back, in case something goes awry.

For example, one of my clients at a major consumer electronics company has worked on its supply chain. Recently, this company decided to act as a repair/upgrade center for one of its major products to sell refurbished models (when customers trade-up) of one of this company’s top-selling products to create a new market for them through the existing outlets. This process is called “reverse supply chain,” about which my client had no experience.

So, when her boss called and asked her to head the repair/upgrade center she said yes with alacrity, because it was a bigger role with a higher title. As soon as she went back to her office she panicked and said to herself, What did I just sign-up for? So, we talked and after our call about this development she went home that day and decided to talk to someone who had done this for many years, who would now be a part of the new team and asked him to spend a few hours with her about his ideas on how to manage the reverse supply chain and how to deal with the tremendous volume of merchandize flowing back in.

Once she understood what was needed and that there were experts on her team, she calmed down and quickly realized that this was something she could handle with some effort! If, instead, she had panicked and said to her boss, “I’ve no idea what this is and how to manage this large effort, the role and promotion would have gone to someone else, who perhaps knew even less than she did!

It is generally accepted that women rarely do something unless they feel 100% certain that they can, and men only have to feel like they’re 60% certain. But if a woman and a man go and take the same challenge, women will do just as well or better. As women, they rationalize opting out of an offered opportunity, but they should develop a mind-set of, “I’m going to say yes,” and then figure it out how to get it done; there is always a way (this is exactly what we men do!). Say yes and act like the leader in the face of uncertainty and show that your can be the leader that you want to be. Whether you are a man or woman, it’s important to know your stuff, be prepared, and then present it with authority and confidence to get the plum assignment. Then, if you get thrown off track leading this undertaking, stay unflappable and guide your team through calm and aplomb.

Sometimes, it is not about saying yes to something that is offered to you, but it is also about claiming something that your superiors think that you are not yet quite qualified or ready to take on because of their limiting beliefs about you or about their misperceptions about you (Read my blog: Disabusing Your Boss’ Perceptions about Your Strengths, October 8, 2017). Women face this challenge more then men do, but this applies to them both.

All of us feel like imposters at one time or another. None of us wants to feel judged. But having executive presence is about making people feel that you can handle things and that you’re smart enough to know your strengths, and for the things you don’t know, you can figure it out or seek help in figuring it out. Saying yes emphatically and with alacrity in uncertainty also makes the person offering you the opportunity feel like they made the right call. As a result, they may even go out of their way to help you succeed; they often see your success and their success!

Another thing to consider in developing executive presence is communication. Do you look people in the eye? Is there a warmth emanating from you? Are you saying things that will benefit people or inspire them? Or instead, are you looking over their shoulder to see if there’s someone else “better” that you should be talking to?

President Bill Clinton is famously known for his ability to own the room crowded with people. Despite the crowd around him and the noise, when he is talking to you he has the uncanny ability to make you feel as though you are the only person in that room and what you have to say is important to him.

There is one such instance of a person who had briefly worked for Bill Clinton more than 15 years prior to an event, where they ran into each other, Bill approached him, instantly recognizing him with his first name and recalling his wife’s minor surgery when he’d worked with him. This man was astonished when Bill Clinton said to him, Hi Jim so nice to see you after all these years. How is Jill after the surgery she had to go through at that time?! Such encounters help cement your image as having strong executive presence. As the famous saying goes (by Maya Angelou): People may not remember what you did, or what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel!

This also plays into the idea of gravitas. Imagine a swan gliding on the water. When you think of a swan, you think of a creature that’s elegant and composed and flowing gracefully, but under the water there are little webbed feet paddling furiously. When you’re in charge and in control, you’re not letting anyone see those furiously paddling feet. That’s where gravitas comes in. A strong leader has gravitas.

When it comes to communication, both written and oral communication matter. Each is a learned skill. Here is an example of poorly written communication that recently created havoc among the millions in the Google user community of G-Drive across the world:

This is what was sent out (This announcement from Google created a violent reaction among the users across the globe):

“With this launch, Google Drive for Mac/PC is officially deprecated. It will no longer be supported starting on December 11th, 2017, and it will shut down completely on March 12th, 2018. We encourage you to use Drive File Stream. As an alternative to or in addition to installing Drive File Stream, you can upgrade to the new version of Drive for Mac/PC, called Backup and Sync.”

What that person really meant to say was this:

“Starting December 11th, 2017, ‘Google Drive for Mac/PC’ will be renamed to ‘Backup and Sync’ for regular consumers, and ‘Drive File Stream’ for enterprises. We encourage you to update to either or both of the new versions. In addition, we will be rolling out new features in the updates, including [whatever you want to list here]. The Google Drive website is not affected by this change.”

So, you can see how poorly written communication can wreak havoc causing wasted efforts and unintended consequences. To display executive presence is to engage in clear, unambiguous, and concise communication—both written and oral.

Executive presence development Men Vs. Women

It is generally accepted that women rarely do something unless they feel 100% certain that they can, and men only have to feel like they’re 60% certain. But if a woman and a man go and take the same challenge, women will do just as well or better. As women, they rationalize opting out of an offered opportunity, but they should develop a mind-set of, “I’m going to say yes,” and then figure it out how to get it done; there is always a way (this is exactly what we men do!).

Saying yes and acting like the leader in the face of uncertainty and showing that you can be the leader that you want to be stems from strong executive presence. Whether you are a man or woman, it’s important to know your stuff, be prepared, and then present it with authority and confidence to get the plum assignment. Then, if you get thrown off track leading this undertaking, staying unflappable and guiding your team through calm and aplomb are also at the heart of how to manifest your executive presence.

The best way to model an example of executive presence is to think about the leader you admire and the leader you want to be, and modeling their behavior; it is not copying what they do, but it is following in their footsteps. The more you do it, the easier it comes. Having a strong visual example always in front of your mind’s eye is a good way to develop your own executive presence. This is true for both men and women.

Also, a big part of executive presence is authenticity. Because people can sniff out inauthenticity quickly, projecting an authentic self is critical for developing that trust of those around you. Hopefully, you’re a positive person who wants to do a good job. The best combination for success and leadership is warmth and competence, but if you’re all warmth and fuzziness, people don’t always trust that you know what you’re talking about or might perceive that you lack substance. And all competence with no warmth can come off as dry and arrogant. For men and women, combining warmth and competence will lead to great executive presence. People will trust you, like you, and would want to follow you. This is quite in conflict with what some believe that they need to embrace to project their executive presence: aloofness, distance, and harshness. Having executive presence is exactly its opposite: Your likeability and affection play a major role in how your executive presence shines through. So, learn how to increase your likeability without compromising your mission to ratchet up your executive presence.

So, here is a summary of the factors that can help you ratchet up your executive presence (adapted from Allison Kluger—Stanford GSB—interview with Nancy Rothstein):

1. Be aware of your appearance. Are you dressing appropriately for meetings or events when you’re meeting someone who is new or important? If you are too casual or sloppy, people will ascribe traits to you — they may think you’re lazy or not senior enough to do your job.
2. Be aware of how you communicate and how you use your voice. Be clear, present, and strong, and project an aura of action. Rather than saying “I was wondering” or “Perhaps,” say “I believe” and “My plan is this.”
3. Be aware of your energy. When you walk into a room, do you stand straight, with good energy, and are you prepared to interact? Make sure you’re aware of people and people are aware of you, because if you’re not (and they’re not), they may come away with a neutral or negative impression. Remember that eye contact, a firm handshake, a smile, and your first and last words are part of the first impression you make.
4. Consider your differentiating factor. What is it that makes you special, and how do you broadcast it so people are aware of it? Blog about it, or create a seminar to teach others. Being an expert at something teaches you how to embrace the spotlight and broadcast your talents to other people, because sharing with others helps you create a network, take a leadership role, and create new opportunities for yourself.
5. Have a model of strong executive presence that you can relate to and follow their example that works for you (do not merely copy them).

Good luck!

Acknowledgement: Some material in this blog is adapted from the Allison Kluger interview cited above.