Executive Presence: How to know if you have it

Several people we coach have asked us about developing their executive presence. To the team members we coached who asked us about this topic, we asked them, “What does executive presence mean to you?” Or, “When you think about leaders who have executive presence, what traits come to mind?” Not surprisingly, each leader had a very different answer. We define executive presence as a leader who inspires confidence in their boss, direct reports, peers, internal and external customers, and gives these stakeholders the feeling and belief that this is the type of leader they are motivated to follow. These stakeholders also believe that this leader has a positive vision and will achieve successful outcomes.

Executive presence is an elusive concept that first appeared in Sylvia Hewlett’s book, The Sponsor Effect. Executive presence is not about the degrees you have earned, your technical expertise or the number of years of experience you have in your areas of expertise. Degrees earned, technical expertise and experience may be critical for you to be hired, but they have very little in common with the characteristics of someone described as having executive presence. What we know about executive presence is it may take time for you to notice these qualities in a leader. But, if a leader does not have executive presence, you will notice it almost immediately. 

Characteristics of someone lacking executive presence include: 

Indecisive: Leaders who lack executive presence do not have the confidence to make a decision. They are waiting until they have more information, finding a better option, or have consensus from everyone on the team. Leaders who have executive presence know that they will never have all the information, the ideal option in every situation or have everyone on board with the decision. Strong leaders know that, at some point, having somewhere around 80 percent of the available information, they need to make the decision.

Unwilling to take a stand. Leaders who lack executive presence are not confident taking a stand on issues, especially when politics are in play or the decision is controversial. Strong leaders with executive presence are clear on their personal values, the values of the organization they lead and are willing to take a stand when it is the right thing to do. Recently, we coached a leader who had a direct report who was a bully in the organization and treated some team members disrespectfully and in a condescending way. This leader was hesitant to take a stand and tell the direct report they needed to significantly change how they treated team members or they would no longer work at the organization. Their reasoning for not wanting to take a stand with this direct report is because technically, the direct report was a superstar employee who could outproduce everyone else on the team. This unwillingness to quickly take a strong stand on the issue caused the rest of the team to lose respect for this leader. Interestingly, the direct report who treated team members poorly also did not respect the leader. If they did, they would not be creating organizational problems this leader needed to handle. When everyone on the team no longer respects the leader because of their inability to take a stand, the leader has no executive presence.

Does not speak up: Leaders who do not speak up and add value to meetings and conversations, do not have executive presence. Leaders without executive presence tend to attend meetings because they are included in the invite list. Many times, these leaders see the meetings as a waste of their valuable time and will try to multi-task instead of giving the meeting and team members their undivided attention instead of thinking about how they can be a leader who adds value. It is very difficult to add much value without speaking up.

Lacks confidence: Leaders who lack executive presence lack confidence. They present ideas tentatively, many times peppered with um’s, ahs, oks, and kind of likes, all of which convey to the listeners that they lack confidence about their idea and what they are going to say next.

Talks too much: Leaders who lack executive presence beat around the bush, ramble on and on, and take forever to get to the point they are trying to make. One time, I attended a meeting where a young leader was going on and on with no one really understanding what his goal was or the point he was trying to make. Finally, a senior leader in the room stopped him and said, “Son, I have no concerns about you having the last word in today’s meeting. But, I am deeply concerned you are not going to get to it.” Leaders who have executive presence have a clear vision of what they want to communicate. And, have the ability to choose the right words in a clear, succinct manner.

They lack empathy. Leaders who lack executive presence do not do well at understanding the perspectives and feelings of others. We worked with a senior leader who had the most technical expertise in the company, who would tell others in the organization that their ideas were stupid or would never work. Being the technical expert, she may have been right, but when it came to building a relationship where team members wanted to follow her, that did not happen. In fact, there were several team members who went to Human Resources stating that they were no longer willing to work with this leader.

Overuse presentation tools. Leaders who lack executive presence tend to read their speech and the points they need to make, or rely heavily on tools like PowerPoint, Mentimeter, Google Slides, Keynote or Prezi. Leaders with executive presence understand that changing hearts and minds of the audience will most likely be made by a strong connection with the leader’s credibility and a message delivered with confidence and conviction, not reading a script or trying to persuade the audience with graphics on the screen but speak from their knowledge. 

Does not manage time well: Leaders who lack executive presence do not manage their time well or the time of the stakeholders they work with. In today’s world, everyone is crazy busy. Leaders with executive presence know how valuable everyone’s time is. They communicate and facilitate in a way that is direct, succinct and makes efficient use of their team’s time. They also plan well and meet their deadlines.

Lack Composure: Leaders that lack composure are those that feed the fire. When things go wrong, they are the ones that are not able to handle the problem and raise everyone’s level of anxiety. They are what we call the arsonists as they start or feed the fires instead of extinguishing them. A leader with executive presence, in times of crisis or when faced with a problem, knows how to get calmer and focus on improving the situation. They add value to the situation, not blow it out of proportion.

If you have ever wondered why another leader was promoted over you, it may have nothing to do with your experience, time in the job, or amount of work you get done. It may be your lack of executive presence. If you are a leader who has a desire to further your career, you will need to focus on executive presence. Review the competency list above. Identify where you have areas for improvement. Then, create an action plan of what you will do differently to raise the bar on your lowest rated competencies.