Category Archives: Executive Presence

Very few leaders were born with executive presence—most need to grow executive presence, research shows. Every leader needs to build executive presence and display it across 10 key work contexts. Are you currently showing up with more executive presence in some than in others? Consider where you excel and where you need to cultivate a more powerful presence.

10 Circumstances Where Building an Executive Presence Matters

Where does executive presence matter at work? And would you show executive presence in every context where it matters?

Building executive presence will make you a more effective leader across a broad range of contexts—both in-person and virtual. Let’s explore the main situations where you need executive presence at work to get ahead.

The Main Contexts Where Building an Executive Presence is Needed Delivering a presentation in a team meeting where you need … Continue reading Building Executive Presence: 10 Key Situations Where It Matters Most” →

Although hard work, experience, leadership, and your ability to influence others are all key factors in getting promoted, executive presence is often the factor that separates the great employees from the exceptional. Executive presence can mean the difference between sitting stagnant on one rung of the corporate ladder or quickly climbing past your co-workers.

There are three excellent ways to develop this distinctive quality: building a strong personal brand, stepping outside your comfort zone, and recruiting influential advocates to support you.

I discuss these three methods in my guest blog post, “3 Killer Ways to Build Your Executive Presence,” for Diane Craig’s Corporate Class Inc., a leading image and etiquette consulting company that has been advising Fortune 500 companies for more than twenty years. Here’s the advice I gave, in a nutshell.

Establish your personal brand.

Building your brand helps you … Continue reading Exceptional Executive Presence: The Key to Standing Out as a Leader →

My coaching client Miles started the executive coaching session by asking, “What is office politics?” He mostly had only negative associations (backstabbing, kissing up, gossip, who you know gets you to advance). As an introvert, he felt intimidated by office politics, so he tried to just keep his nose pressed to the grindstone and avoid getting involved. But whether you work for an international corporation, government agency, small business, or nonprofit, office politics are unavoidable. If you choose to remain on the sidelines, you may miss out on opportunities awarded to those who are playing to win at workplace politics, as Miles found.

Instead, I suggested, Miles could think of office politics as “company culture,” “building relationships,” or “how work is done.” When you have a more positive perspective of this concept, you’ll be able to embrace what is actually happening and leverage it to your benefit.

… Continue reading Change Your Mindset: Office Politics in the Workplace Isn’t a Dirty Word →

Projecting executive presence on a video conference call is challenging enough, with the lack of body language it entails. But what about demonstrating executive presence over the phone? On a telephone call, radiating gravitas becomes an even more specialized skill, since body language doesn’t come into play at all.

Here, I’ll share some techniques that have worked for countless clients who are mastering the transition to working remotely—or who simply wanted to enhance their ability to connect with remote colleagues, coworkers, and clients. These strategies will help you enhance your executive presence on all your phone calls.

7 Tips on how to Enhance Executive Presence Over the Phone 1. Warm up your voice.

On the phone, your voice is your only attribute that projects who you are.

Before getting a call, warm up by doing vocal exercises (especially if you’re at home or in a private office where you … Continue reading 7 Ways to Show Executive Presence
Over the Phone →

Vital Importance of Having Executive Presence on Zoom

Executive presence is key on Zoom or any video conferencing platform. How you present yourself, and your skill at leading a meeting, says a great deal about your leadership in general. Make the right impression in every virtual meeting with strategies that have proven essential to many of my clients in managing the transition to remote work. Developing your executive presence by making the right impression in virtual meetings will help you be seen as a commanding leader. If you want to master the three domains of executive presence (Gravitas, Authority, Expression), utilize Joel’s Executive Presence book.

9 Tips for Excellent Executive Presence on Zoom

Learn the 9 techniques that people too often overlook about executive presence in Zoom videoconferencing, and brand yourself as someone who is a strong leader.

1. Frame yourself professionally.

There are a few key … Continue reading What you must know about
Executive Presence on Zoom →

While you may have already been working to hone your executive presence, virtual meetings present entirely new challenges.

How can you radiate gravitas, charisma, and confidence on a screen.

The virtual meeting screen is where people’s attention is more likely to waver, body language is largely absent, and an interpersonal connection can be hard to establish?

I’ve been coaching my clients on this exact topic as the world goes remote. I’ll share with you the tips that have helped them transition into successfully leading remote teams by demonstrating executive presence in all their virtual meetings. Learn how to not only speak up at the right times, but to convey the confidence and charisma that make you a person people want to follow. Whether you’re leading the meeting or not, these tactics will greatly boost your visibility and make sure others see you as a leader.

9 Key … Continue reading Executive Presence in Virtual Meetings →

About a third of U.S. employees have now transitioned to working remotely, says Smithsonian Magazine. That includes a large proportion of people in office jobs, who are now learning how to navigate the video conferencing landscape—with mixed results.

The key to Having Executive Presence on Video Conference Calls

As a leader, you may be wondering how you can exude executive presence on video conference calls. Just when you thought you’d started radiating confidence in real life, the fast-paced changes that society has been going through have thrown you through a loop. Now, you find yourself struggling to understand how you can come across as poised, persuasive, and charismatic on a screen.

Executive presence is vitally important, whether you are meeting in-person or having a video conference call. I’ve been conducting executive coaching and virtual webinars on the subject of executive presence. Here are the key tips I give … Continue reading Tips to Radiate Executive Presence on Video Conference Calls →