Demystifying Executive Presence: Defining and Developing Leadership Impact
In this five-part series, Lori Counts, FAHP, CFRE, Principal Consultant and Certified Executive Coach, demystifies executive presence, highlights its significance in health care and offers practical strategies for cultivating executive presence within the C-Suite.
One of the most allusive and confusing comments a leader can receive is, “You need to work on your executive presence.” What does this even mean? Who’s defining executive presence? How do you know if you have it?
Executive presence—while confusing, you know it when you see it. It’s that inspiring leader who exudes confidence and speaks with clarity and passion. She simply commands the room. People rely on her wisdom and strength and watch in awe as she captivates and influences those around her. Associates gravitate to her and want to be just like her. How did she develop that certain “je ne sais quoi?” Or, was she just a born leader?
As a philanthropy executive, you have dedicated your life to the science and art of your profession. The science is about exercising best practices and employing high level fund development techniques and strategies with expertise and skill. The art is about reading cues and emotions of others and knowing when the time is right to move from cultivation to “the ask.” In our work, we build and sustain strong relationships with our donors and community partners as we move effortlessly between constituencies. We pride ourselves on being relationship experts. But as a health care leader, do you apply these same principles in the C-Suite? Do you motivate and ignite a passion in others? As a philanthropy executive at the highest level, do you have the intuition, self-awareness, perception of others and ability to read the room? As a member of the C-Suite, do you know when to demonstrate knowledge and when to sit back and listen?
Executive presence is the ability to consistently and clearly articulate your value proposition while influencing and connecting with others. AMY JEN SU Author of Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence
Even the best leaders reach points in their career when the paradigm seems to shift. Expectations change and the scope of the job becomes very different. The higher your level of seniority, the more perception seems to matter. As you rise through the ranks, you may have to calibrate some aspects of yourself that made you shine in the past. This can be very unsettling.
Executive presence is what sets exceptional leaders apart. It’s about demonstrating confident, authentic and effective leadership in different situations and with diverse audiences. Impressive leaders have the ability to read the crowd and adapt their communication style accordingly.
The Center for Talent Innovation, along with Marie Claire and Moody’s Foundation, surveyed over 4,000 professionals in major corporations to take a closer look at executive presence. The senior executives that they surveyed explained that leadership potential isn’t enough to gain access to the C-Suite; however, leadership positions are given more regularly to those who look and act the part. They found that presence by itself will not get someone promoted, but if executive presence is lacking in an individual, it will definitely hamper their progress.¹
Ultimately, executive presence starts with culture. Assess the culture of your organization. What does your executive culture look like? Who stands out? Who carries themself in a way that commands respect and attention? If you observe your culture, then you can work to model that culture into one that exudes executive presence.
Check out Accordant’s Leadership + Talent service to learn how we can help you cultivate an executive presence culture at your organization today.
¹ Center for Talent Innovation. (2013). Executive Presence.
About the Author: Lori J. Counts, FAHP, CFRE, is a certified executive coach and Principal Consultant with Accordant. She specializes in executive coaching, board development and training, as well as program assessments and capital campaign fundraising. You can reach her by email at Lori@AccordantHealth.com or by connecting through LinkedIn.
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