![]() “Leadership Presence is the ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others, in order to motivate them and inspire them towards a desired outcome. The Actor’s Viewįormer actresses turned executive coaches, Kathy Lubar and Belle Linda Halpern, present a third definition in their book, Leadership Presence: Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire: Cuddy has demonstrated that humans are psychologically attuned to this type of behavior, and treat this authenticity with respect, according to her research. When you have a high level of awareness and confidence in who you are and what you represent, you project this confidence to others. ”Ĭuddy’s Presence is built from the inside out. “Presence is the state of being attuned to and being able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential. The Psychologist’s Viewįamous Harvard psychologist, Amy Cuddy, in her bestselling book, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, take another approach: Her research highlights that according to corporate leaders EP rests on three pillars: gravitas (67%), communication (28%) and appearance (5%). In Hewlett’s universe, there is an objective set of desired behaviors that you could emulate in order to project a strong EP. Rather, executive presence is a measure of image : whether you signal to others that you “have what it takes,” that you are leadership material. Executive presence is not just a measure of performance. “Executive presence is the ’it factor,’ a heady combination of confidence, poise, and authenticity that convinces the rest of us we are in the presence of someone who’s going places. The Corporate ViewĮconomist and founder of the Center for Talent Innovation, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, shares in her book Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success, the following definition: I call these the corporate, the psychologist, and the actor views of EP: 1. Through this review and research, I identified three viewpoints of Executive Presence. I then turned to business literature to find more objective definitions. This research only illustrated that there was no universal understanding of EP among even the most seasoned executives. I first interviewed successful executives from different industries and countries and got an array of definitions that highlighted diverse qualities such as self-confidence, decisiveness, speaking truth to power, transparent communication, carefully managing perceptions, authenticity and treating people with respect. When more and more of my women’s leadership course participants started coming to me for help with Executive Presence, I embarked on a long journey to find the perfect definition in order to help them find more career success. But it’s not just a women’s issue-it affects men as well.Īccording to executive recruiters, Elena Lytkina Botelho and Katie Semmer Creagh, interviewers cited lack of EP for about 36% of high-performers who were passed for promotions. In other words, vague feedback can specifically hold women back ” conclude Stanford’s Shelley Correll and Caroline Simand in their HBR article Research: Vague Feedback Is Holding Women Back.Ĭombining a vague concept with gender bias in performance evaluations and we can clearly see how the lack of executive presence can be used to slow women’s career growth. We also learned that vague feedback is correlated with lower performance review ratings for women - but not for men. “The vague feedback lets women know they are generally doing a good job, but it does not identify which specific actions are valued or the positive impact of their accomplishments. Research has also shown that women are more likely than men to receive vague feedback about their performance and qualifications-and be held back by it: There is quite a bit of conversation about Executive Presence (‘EP’) in leadership development circles but only a handful of people can clearly define what it actually is. “ seems so nebulous, everyone seems to want it in their execs but no one can quite define what it is! I am trying to figure out whether I have it, and if not, what I can do to develop ‘it.’ But first, I need to wrap my head around what ‘it’ is.” She was happy about the new gig but was also feeling very confused by the mixed messaging: A month later, Rena was hired by a competitor for the same type of role she was passed on. She was gunning for a Vice President role but was told by her boss that she was missing executive presence and the promotion was then given to her male peer. Rena has had a great pedigree and a successful career, first as an engineer, then as a product manager and later, a director at a fashionable tech company.
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