12 Criteria For Executive Presence

As much as earlier writers would have you believe, executive presence has not much to do with skills, tools, and techniques. Executive Presence has to do with leaders’ relationships and particularly their capacity to choose their responses in stressful situations. This results in a clear flow of feelings between the leader and those around them. When your relationships remain strong the genuine you is present and you can connect easily with others. People will be drawn to you and will...

The Language Of Creating Connections

Recently I travelled in Morocco where I became acutely aware of cultural differences, some significant. The culture of bargaining for items was foreign and discomforting to me yet occurs in most purchasing interactions there. For the seller there is a game of wanting to make a sale and getting a good price. For me, as the buyer, I have little idea of the value of something I am buying and I didn’t want to be rude by offering a...

“It” – The Leadership Language Of Anonymity

I want to talk about “it”. I really do. In this article I want to discuss the pronoun “it”. Actually, “it” is a particular type of pronoun,”it” is a dummy pronoun. “It” doesn’t refer to anything or anyone. Or as one of my teachers used to say, “It! It! You can put ‘it’ in a wheel barrow and wheel it around but you still won’t know what ‘it’ is!” “Define it”, she would say to me, “define what ‘it’ is and your...

Executive Presence: Understanding Tele And Generating Positive Mutual Relationships

Executive Presence is not a skill or a tool. Executive Presence reflects your capacity to care for people and your willingness to create open positive mutual relationships with those around you as you enact your role. In two-way positive relationships there is a positive flow of feeling from the leader to the individual or group, and there is a positive flow of feeling from the individuals and group to the leader. Leaders who balance technical and professional competence, their track record, personal credibility,...

The Language Of Leadership – Differentiate, Collaborate And Engage

The language of differentiation Let’s work with the word ‘I’, the personal pronoun. I’ indicates the language of differentiation. In using “I”, you own the verb which follows the pronoun. I notice, I suggest, I think, I am aware… Here is an example: I am in a meeting, and everyone is talking at once. What intervention might I make? “We are talking over one another, and we can’t hear what everyone is saying.” Now, for some in the group this...

What Is Executive Presence?

As a leader, you are the person people look to for guidance and direction. You need to step up and be that person. How you do this is up to you. Your Executive Presence encompasses both the role or position you hold, and how you enact this role. Both are central to your identity. Your Executive Presence reflects how you convey your identity to those around you. Knowing who you are and how you impact people are significant elements of...

The Secret Of Metacommunication

Guest article by Cher Williscroft. Good communicators take care to get their message across, so it is received as it is intended by using a communication skill called metacommunication. As a result, they have more influence and receive more cooperation. It is critical to metacommunicate when you want to successfully discuss something tricky that has the potential to trigger a reactive response in your listener. When you approach another person for a conversation or a request, you must communicate about the...

What Makes You An ‘Attractive’ Leader?

Leaders have many aspects of how they enact their roles. One that particularly interests me, is the qualities that make a leader someone who is ‘in tune’ with the people around them and what is going on in their organisation. They are someone who hears what’s really going on, can foresee potential problems in the organisation, and is chosen by their peers and staff as wise counsel. The art and science of sociometry has a useful way of looking at...