What is Executive Presence?

I was recently facilitating a workshop for a c-suite team of an organization and, in a discussion around what qualities of leadership were critical for team success, the importance of executive presence was identified. Even though all felt it was an imperative, what quickly emerged was the lack of a singular definition to could guide the leaders.

In the end, we determined a balance of competence, confidence, and humility is that which composes executive presence.

Competence – While to some extent this does imply the leader has the knowledge and experience to address key situation and topics, there is not the implication they know everything. Instead, competence is a leader recognizing where they have key insights to share and, in the cases where they do not, they know where to go to gain the knowledge needed. Competence implies that, in partnership, a leader can help develop a path to the solution needed and, along the way, the team as a whole will learn and grow.

Confidence – It is easy to be a leader in the smooth-sailing times. It is in times of disruption, of conflict, of the unknown, where we all seek leaders who are confident in the direction we pursue. Confidence comes in many forms – it is not always the loudest voice in the room. Instead, confidence comes with conviction, with clarity, and with commitment. There is always room to pivot and adapt but, overall, a confident leader emboldens their followers and ensures the direction they are pursuing is where they need to go to accomplish their goal.

Humility – Probably the most important piece of the triad – humility is the awareness of one’s self with all of the accompanying talents and flaws. Humble leaders recognize, though they are often better informed of the larger strategic picture, it doesn’t mean they are the smartest person in the room. Leaders with true executive presence use every interaction as an opportunity to learn, refine their own strengths, and build critical knowledge and connections to better serve as leaders. Confidence without ego is a narrow line, but when humility is embodied it can set a tone and culture of partnership for the whole team.

In any senior leadership team, executive presence is not the sole responsibility of the CEO. Anyone who is looked upon as a source of strategic insight, who supervises and has the ability to embolden their employees, who is entrusted to represent an organization to external audiences, should embrace and engage their own executive presence. When competence, confidence, and humility are seen throughout an executive leadership team, the entire organization has a greater potential to advance their mission building stronger staff potential, output, and loyalty.