Full transcript
Hello and welcome to LEAD — Leadership Enablement and Development, an initiative from Nirvedha. This is the show for leaders, all about leadership and its impact. On this episode: have you ever wondered about the missing link between merit and success? That's exactly what we are going to help you with on this week's show, where you will learn about executive presence and its key aspects. I am your host Sudhakar, a certified executive cum business coach.
Have you ever had a boss who walks into the room and brings with them an air of leadership? When he or she starts talking, you know immediately that this person is in charge. But what is it that makes you feel like this? Is it something in this boss's stride, or way of speaking?
Being a sound leader takes more than simply knowing how to do your job. You must also be able to command a presence of authority and leadership. Among the laundry list of qualities a leader should possess, I believe it is executive presence which is more important. No man or woman attains a top job, lands an extraordinary deal, or develops a significant following without this heady combination of confidence, poise and authenticity that convinces the rest of us that we are in the presence of someone who is the real deal. It's an amalgam of qualities that telegraphs that you are in charge, or deserve to be.
Here I want to underscore the word telegraph. Executive presence is not a measure of performance — whether indeed you hit the numbers, attain the ratings, or have a transformative idea. Instead, it's a measure of image: whether you signal to others that you have what it takes, that you are star material. If you are able to crack the executive presence code, you will be first in line for the next plum assignment and be given a chance of doing something extraordinary with your life. The remarkable thing about executive presence is that it's a precondition for success whether you are in IT, HR, sales, marketing or banking.
Through my research I've learned that executive presence rests on three pillars. These three universal dimensions are: how you act, which is called gravitas; how you speak, which is communication; and how you look, which is your appearance.
We all know a real leader when we see one. He or she projects an aura of calm and competence that instils faith, especially in the white-hot centre of a crisis. He or she reveals integrity and demonstrates courage by uttering truths when they are inconvenient or most unwelcome. He or she also shows courage and emotional intelligence that secures followership even in the wake of news that would seemingly destroy it. These qualities connote gravitas — that weightiness or heft that marks you as someone worth following into the fire.
Gravitas is the very essence of executive presence. Without it you simply won't be perceived as a leader, no matter what your title or level of authority, and no matter how well you dress or speak. According to sixty-two per cent of the leaders surveyed from across the globe, gravitas is what one should possess; it signals to the world that you are made of the right stuff and can be entrusted with grave responsibility.
However, what is it? What makes up gravitas, this elusive but all-important piece of executive presence? How do you come by it, and how might you telegraph it? According to senior leaders, the following six are the top aspects of gravitas.
The first: confidence in grace and fire. How do you come by composure in a crisis? You have got to reach inside yourself to that place where you believe — where you absolutely know — you are eminently qualified to do the job at hand. Self-confidence. Use your iron core, says Anne Erni, a head of human resources at Bloomberg LP, to lean into the wind. When your heart is pounding, you have to believe in yourself deep down. It's not something you can fake.
The second: decisiveness, and showing your teeth. Making difficult decisions is what we look to leaders to do. It is not so much about rendering the right decision, but about providing a choice at a time when no one else dares, that confers gravitas — because it telegraphs that you have the courage as well as the confidence to impose a direction and take responsibility for it.
The third: integrity, and speaking truth to power. Speaking truth to power, as more than sixty per cent of respondents affirm, is a potent affirmation of leader-like courage. The higher you go in an organisation, the more impressive you are when you demonstrate you have the spine to share your convictions. "I want people who will walk into my office and say, here's where I differ, I want to talk to you about it," affirms Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO of Genpact. "I love that. It is the kind of courage I am looking for, in addition to the given of stellar performance." Make sure, however, that when you challenge authority you are coming from a core of unshakable values. Anything less, and your actions will be perceived as insubordination and arrogance — the opposites of gravitas. Also, be prepared to be truly tested.
Number four: demonstrating emotional intelligence. Making and enforcing unpopular decisions is indeed part of showing you have got the chops to be put in charge. It's just that in today's ever flatter organisations, acting insensitively actually compromises your ability to create buy-in among employees and realise optimal outcomes for the firm. That was the conclusion two researchers from Harvard and Stanford reached after spending weeks on two offshore oil rigs, studying the culture change management had initiated to improve safety and performance.
Number five: right-sizing your reputation — your pedigree. Make no mistake, your reputation does precede you, either bestowing gravitas or bleeding you of it. Before you enter a room or open your mouth, your reputation speaks for you. Never more so than today, when word of your latest blunder or scandal races at lightning speed around the globe in a hundred and forty characters or less. People will have formed an opinion of you before you are in a position to help them create it — which is why fifty-six per cent of leaders concur that reputation matters a great deal in establishing executive presence for women, and fifty-seven per cent agree it matters for men. Managing your brand is almost a job unto itself, lest it be controlled for you by people who don't hold your best interest at heart. You have got to be proactive in asserting who you are, what you stand for, and how you would like to be perceived.
Point number six: vision and charisma. Exceedingly few of us will conjure up or drive a vision as powerfully as Jobs did. To communicate gravitas, it's critical you telegraph vision. Fifty-four per cent of the leaders we surveyed think the vision thing is essential for men; fifty per cent believe it matters a lot for women too.
Think about the above elements that you want to improve, and dig in. Just remember: consistency is the key. Executive presence doesn't get a day off.
Thank you all for tuning in.