It’s possible to make a 180° in your executive presence by making one basic adjustment. Jane’s transformation was stunning, inspiring and happened in two hours.
If you’re a leader struggling to have a more inspiring and dynamic executive presence, or if you’re a CEO, C-suite, or director and know something’s falling flat in your presentation style, keep reading to learn how Jane went from boring to brilliant. Chances are you’re experiencing a similar roadblock and could benefit from this one adjustment.
But first, what is executive presence and can you develop it?
Executive Presence is your ability to inspire confidence and trust, inspire a desire to succeed, influence people to take action and galvanize people around a common goal. Developing your executive presence is a great way to grow your influence and impact as a leader. It’s a skill you learn, develop and can craft.
How Jane developed a strong executive presence
While conducting an executive presence training one of my attendees, “Jane,” (name changed to protect her identity) came up against a road-block to her ability to communicate effectively as a leader.
Seven of us sat down and got to know each other. After a little while, people started to relax and let their guard down. Each person talked about their strengths and challenges in leadership. “Jane” was fun, approachable, expressive, and laughed a lot.
Next up came the camera portion of the training. Each executive had the opportunity to be on camera, speak, be interviewed, and get feedback.
Are you doing a 180° when it’s time to lead?
An interesting thing happened with Jane: when she got on camera something shifted radically in her presentation style. In fact, her on-camera persona was a complete 180° from the person participating in the workshop just a few moments before.
On camera, she didn’t smile, wasn’t expressive, was very factual, and referenced data whenever possible. None of her upbeat personality was shining through. She was definitely not compelling to watch and, in fact, the Jane we had all met just hours before went missing!
I couldn’t blame Jane’s problem on “stage fright” because she appeared bold and confident. It was something else…
I asked her what had happened – how could she explain the complete 180°? She didn’t know. She felt she was doing her job “leading the company.”
The one adjustment: Does your image of leadership match the leader you want to be?
Finally, I asked Jane what her image was of being the “leader” of this company. What did that look like for her?
After much thought, this very bright and expressive 38-year old said: “My image of what a leader should be is a man in his late 50’s in a suit with gray hair. He doesn’t express much emotion and he uses data, facts, and figures to get a point across.”
THIS is who Jane was impersonating without consciously realizing it. No wonder she became a different person on camera.
After a lot of questioning, Jane discovered that she had a very specific unconscious image of what an executive is supposed to look like, act like, and talk like and that it didn’t work for her.
When she realized this image was holding her back, she was able to stop using it as her role model. After she made this adjustment, she was able to let the confident, approachable, knowledgeable, and naturally expressive parts of her own personality shine through.
Were you hired for your leadership style or someone else’s?
In retrospect, Jane realized that when she was hired by the board, she unconsciously assumed they wanted someone else in the position – the man she was impersonating.
It was clear to everyone in the workshop that the board had a lot of very good reasons to hire Jane to lead their company, but it was NOT because they wanted a white male in a suit in his mid-50’s with gray hair that quoted facts and figures. They hired Jane because they wanted what SHE has to offer.
I have seen a variation of this problem over and over in both men and women.
“Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.”
― Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
One of the challenges for most leaders is untangling and then extrapolating ourselves from images of what, how, and who we are “supposed” to be versus who we are and who we want to be. This kind of work helps to strengthen executive presence exponentially. Once you can be yourself, your personal strengths can come forward.
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
― Brene Brown, research professor and best selling author
Symptoms that show up when you’re not stepping into your executive presence
Being on camera and speaking in front of audiences magnifies what you are emulating, especially if it doesn’t line up with who you really are.
Here are some of the symptoms that can show up in media appearances, interviews, and public speaking when you aren’t aligned with your image of leadership. Jane experienced many of these symptoms:
- People’s eyes in the audience are expressionless
- People give you compliments afterwards, but they don’t seem sincere
- Your natural body language changes radically
- You aren’t able to connect with your audience and aren’t sure why
- You don’t feel like you’re being yourself
- Something feels flat
- Your speech and presentation are not flowing
- You don’t feel energized by being on-camera or in front of an audience
- You are gripped with stage fright or a fear of being on-camera
- You are drained afterwards
- You feel stifled
- You feel like the audience is forced to listen but not like they want to
- You’re trying too hard
- The copy for your speech or video script is awkward and not written in your natural speaking style. You feel like it’s stifling your executive presence.
Jane’s transformation could be yours too
Leadership, being on camera and on stage, forces people to excavate their psyche and untangle themselves from unconscious and buried role models. But once you do, the transformation is exponential. Once you start trusting your own leadership style, people start to trust you more easily. You gain power, confidence and the ability to influence more easily.
Once Jane became conscious about what she was doing, it gave her space to actually bring herself and what she has to offer to her presentation style. With positive confirmation from our entire group that they really wanted to see the Jane on camera that they had met at the beginning of the training, she became much more compelling to watch and connected with her audience in the best way.
As the workshop progressed, she improved. Her message became relate-able, easy to understand, and easy to connect with. Her presence became quite powerful and engaging. Everyone agreed that the qualities of “this Jane” were why she was hired in the first place. Plus, it didn’t seem like she was “working” on camera because her words simply flowed.
Jane was stunned at her own transformation! But it felt strange for it to be so easy given she was so used to working so hard. She was relieved and elated.
Unconscious role models that block you from having a strong executive presence can come from anywhere
It would be easy to assume that because Jane is a woman and female role models as heads of companies are rare, she would be more likely to get caught in the trap of imitating someone else.
But the truth is, both men and women have this same issue. Often, we’ll unconsciously choose to imitate a leader of either sex – it could be a father, a mother, a movie figure, a hero, a professor, an old boss you liked or didn’t like.
All in all, the trick is to be conscious of slipping into imitation rather than your innate ability to be your best and most authentic self. Decide who YOU want to be as a leader. Take the time to mine your best characteristics, the self-possessed leadership skills that exist within you and, in doing so, your strength of character will not only naturally shine forth on camera but will command respect.
“There is no such thing as presentation talent; it is called presentation skills.”
-David JP Phillips
CONCLUSION – Your transformation
In conclusion, I leave you with these questions:
- As a leader, who are you impersonating?
- Is it working for you?
- Are you tired of impersonating this person?
- Is the person you’re imitating the leader you want to become?
- By impersonating someone else, are you actually hiding?
- If you have been hiding, are you ready to stop?
Once you start to excavate your own unconscious images of leadership, you’ll be able to discover that buried beneath these role models you’re imitating is a more natural and energized executive leadership presence within you. This is a very exciting shift. It makes your leadership, your presence, your ability to present on stage and on-camera a lot easier, and, more fun. Executive presence training can help you make this transformation more quickly.
Coincidentally, this shift also benefits your audience. It makes you easier to understand and a lot more inspiring and approachable. Audiences may not be able to put their finger on exactly what you’re doing that’s working, but it won’t matter because what you’re saying will become far more important. Jane’s willingness to transform showed everyone what was possible.
If you want to grow your impact as a leader by developing your executive presence, please contact me for information on Executive Presence Training and Coaching.
Please refer to these blog posts for additional tips to help you strengthen your executive presence:
7 Body Language Tips: Remarkable Results Fast
5 Tips For Overcoming Your Fear of Being On-Camera
Stop Wasting Time and Money: Connect With Your Audience Using These 5 Video Script Writing Tips
What is Media Training and Why You Need It
The Art of Reading a Teleprompter: 6 Tips to Get You Started
