Leadership Breakthrough

Chapter 9: Executive Presence “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” - Jim Rohn The hardest thing to define and describe, let alone, develop is executive presence. That’s the term used to identify the persona, characteristics, tone, attitude, confidence, impressions, etc. that makes an executive look and act like one. It’s hard to identify and describe because it’s really in the eye of the beholder. Confident, calm, decisive, professional, focused, commanding, intelligent, influential, motivating, inspiring, charismatic, powerful, natural leader, courageous, sophisticated, je ne sais quoi, bravado, are all words used to describe it. I’m a big believer in the idea that leaders earn that distinction from those they lead, not from a title or level of responsibilities. That said, aside from the expected attributes of a leader or executive such as contributions made, expertise in their given field, education, and experience there’s also expected conduct. Don’t underestimate the value and importance of having executive presence. A lack of or weak executive presence can prevent an executive from getting to the next level. Executive presence is needed internally to gain the respect of the top levels of the company including the owners and/or the board. It’s needed externally to gain the respect of Wall Street, analysts, and customers. Even those rare executives that have made it to the top for specific talents like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have had to learn behaviors required of their roles. You can see over time how their behaviors have changed and become more polished and respectable. I am often asked in my coaching practice to help executives develop their executive presence. This is often the final piece of the puzzle required to promote someone to the top levels. Some believe you either have it or you don’t, and that it’s something you are born with. It is true that there are many born leaders with a natural charisma, commanding personality, and leadership appeal, though even those individuals can have other shortcomings in executive presence like integrity and discretion. Those that weren’t born with some of these characteristics can still develop behaviors that build on their executive presence. It doesn’t require changing who we are or changing our individual personalities. It requires modifying and practicing behaviors expected of executives. Emotions Executives are expected to make decisions in the best interest of the company based on information and input, not emotions. This isn’t easy to do. Often executives have to fire or lay-off people they like, or kill projects or sell off divisions they feel emotionally vested in. When, how and how often emotions are used by executives can have a profound impact on their reputations, effectiveness and even careers. I have been asked on many occasions to coach executives on their emotional reactions because their emotions are getting in the way of their career advancement. Emotions are appropriate at the workplace when showing or expressing empathy in difficult situations involving people like layoffs and deaths. Similar expressed emotions like sadness, despair, and fear. about a business issue may not be seen as appropriate. The emotions an executive expresses can have a deep impact on an organization because it provides a gauge to the organization about the health of the organization. So, if an executive facing difficult situations expresses fear or sadness, the organization may start to have doubts about the health of the organization or effectiveness of the leader. Employees can lose faith in the organization and/or the leader. The organization counts on the leader to lead them through difficult times. They want to know the leader is in control of the situation and handling it calmly, effectively and confidently. So the executive’s reactions can cause similar reactions within the organization which can lead to fear, defeatism, poor morale, and employees leaving. Executives emotional reactions, particularly anger, can have a profound impact on their direct reports. It can certainly lead to poor morale as it puts an air of negativity in the environment. Working with emotional executives can be like walking on egg shells as those around them are afraid to say anything that could set the executives off. Direct reports can become fearful of presenting any issues or challenges. If the direct reports become fearful of presenting any bad news they can start withholding or hiding the information which can be dangerous to the executives and the companies. It certainly doesn’t help promote open communications which are critical to any executive. Finally, it can prompt direct reports to behave the same way with their teams as it becomes assumed that this is acceptable and possibly even expected behavior. Keep in mind, expressed emotions are not just or only verbal. Often it’s the non-verbal emotional reactions that give away the emotional state of an executive. Such non-verbal reactions include turning red in the face, frowning, losing eye contact, fixing eye contact on a particular person, sitting back in the chair, and crossing the arms. I would offer that non-verbal communications can be more attention-getting than verbal. It gives people something to focus on, interpret and guess about what’s bothering the executive versus knowing it with verbal communications. If you think getting angry and yelling makes you look tough, don’t kid yourself. It’s more likely to make you look weak (can’t handle the circumstances), threatened, defensive, out of control, or like a bully. Anger and frustration are often over-used emotions in the workplace. This overuse can lose the effectiveness of the emotion. It becomes a “cry wolf” scenario so when the executive is really angry it’s given the same attention as more minor issues the executive reacts to. It can also give the perception of the executive being defensive.