4 Signs You Lack Executive Presence and How to Earn it Back
This guest post is written by Joel Garfinkle, the author of Executive Presence: Step Into Your Power, Convey Confidence, & Lead With Conviction.
Executive presence is an elusive quality. When it’s lacking, you notice. A leader who lacks executive presence stands out for all the wrong reasons, sabotaging their presence and power.
I asked over 1,400 leaders which behaviors most undermine executive presence, and the survey results revealed these 4 behaviors:
- Indecisive
- Quiet
- Timid
- Too verbose
4 signs you lack executive presence and how to earn it back:
#1. Tentative decision-making.
Earn executive presence by taking the plunge.
Make decisions once you have close to 70% of the information Within that window, you have enough info to make an educated decision, but you’re not waiting so long you’re stalling.
#2. Rarely speaking up.
Leaders inspire confidence when they speak up appropriately. Set a goal for how many times to speak in a meeting.
You could decide to speak up three times:
- Make a comment you prepared ahead of time.
- Ask a question.
- Voice a thought that comes to mind in the moment.
With practice, speaking up well comes naturally.
#3. Unassertive and passive behavior.
Earn executive presence by presenting ideas assertively and persuasively.
Great ideas – presented poorly – languish in a headwind created by feeble presentations. If your idea is worthy, give it the opportunity to make a splash instead of a fizzle.
#4. Rambling on and on.
You undermine executive presence when you compulsively speak with no clear purpose.
Pause to accentuate key points.
Rushing and rambling devalues ideas. Well-placed pauses add eloquence to your speech. In between pauses, stick to the most essential points instead of going down one side tangent after another.
Earn a new level of respect by:
- Making timely decisions.
- Speaking up intentionally.
- Presenting assertively.
- Pausing after key points.
Which of the above suggestions do you find most relevant?
Still cuious:
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Joel Garfinkle is the author of Executive Presence: Step Into Your Power, Convey Confidence, & Lead With Conviction. Subscribe to his YouTube Channel which has 200+ actionable 2-minute inspirational video clips and visit his website for 300+ articles on leadership development. You can reach him directly at Joel@GarfinkleExecutiveCoaching.com
I just bought a pile of books. And I told myself that I’m set on books for the year. But maybe I can fit in one more. 🙂 This looks very interesting.
The thing I like about Joel’s book is it has depth. You might believe working on executive presences sounds frivolous. But if you’re serious about making a difference it matters especially when you realize it’s not putting makeup on a pig.
Executive Presence — an excellent term, and so elusive. I struggle with decisive action as a leader, yet I see the need for it.
That decisive action you take shows that you’re willing to risk, and inevitably when you then fail (or nearly fail) or need to re-direct, then demonstrates that you’re still vulnerable, willing to be flexible, and willing to listen to the voices of others, which doubly strengthens buy-in on your team. Perhaps someone hadn’t the courage to stand up and state something, but once they heard you were going X direction, Y suddenly appeared necessary — “but oh wait — if we do X, it’ll mean this…” and then by responding to the new information, you reap the benefits of team contribution and buy-in: (“If I hadn’t spoken up, they would have done X, but now we all agree on Y, and my idea was heard!! I helped.” )
Let’s bite the bullet, face our fear of failure, and take decisive action (while keeping an ear and eye out for any adjustments needed) — and it’ll build our Executive Presence!
Wonderful insights, Joshua. You expanded the topic by showing advantages of being decisive, even if you make a mistake. Brilliant.
Leadership Freak You? See your e-mail title.
Hi Lynne, I wonder what that’s about. I’ll have to look into the reason “you” has been added.
I didn’t notice it before. After reading Lynne’s comment, I went back and looked… it has been “you” since 1/2/23.
Thanks for mentioning this. I think it’s been fixed. I appreciate your attention to detail.
I like all four of Joel’s suggestion. I would add–Be still. Don’t be fidgety.
I thought of two things with “Be still.” One, don’t fidget. Two, have a calm demeanor. Thanks, Paul.
Your post could not have been more timely. I have a colleague on our leadership team that struggles with executive presence. I’ll recommend Joel’s book. Once again, thanks for the daily brain nuggets.
It’s a pleasure to be of service. Best to you and your colleague.
Dan, I love reading your posts. One area where I’ve been growing lately since becoming part of an international team is becoming more aware of cultural differences. Before this role, I had no idea how much cultural differences and the unspoken core values underlying them can impact how people tend to get things done in business and how they define good leadership. In addition to the great points you made above, executive presence can also look slightly different in different cultures.
I have to say that your thoughts are both fascinating and relevant. If there’s one thing I could say about leadership, it’s that a leader’s words should have the power to motivate and inspire those under his charge.
The majority of failures of executive presence I have noticed have arisen out of the lack of anything resembling an understanding of what the heck the people lower down actually do. When you don’t know what the legal responsibilities and consequences for your staff are, you don’t have good “presence”.
Must be honest – this describes me to a T. Yikes. It’s disconcerting to find yourself negatively described in one of these. Well, at least now I have a list of things I can do to get a handle on things and hopefully get some Executive Presence into my career. Thanks for the timely post!