Executive Presence

3 Skills That Set Good CEOs Apart

Obviously there are more than three competencies that are necessary for good leadership. But there are several skills that CEOs need which aren’t quite as critical for leaders at other levels.

A CEO who masters these skills drives the success of their organization, commands a significant salary, and sometimes becomes legendary. In contrast, a CEO who doesn’t do well with these competencies does average at best and at worst is invited to leave the organization. It explains why the average tenure for a Fortune 500 CEO is only about four and a half years.

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The first skill that’s essential for a CEO is the ability to develop a vision for the future. In the absence of a future that is different from the present, a CEO is destined to make only incremental improvements, simply tweaking what already exists. A CEO who has a vision of the future can put a strategy in motion which, if executed well, can alter the course and the fortunes of a business.

How can someone gain the ability to have vision and foresight? It first requires that a CEO have external awareness. In other words, he or she must have a sense of trends, developments and changes in behavior in the world outside of the organization. Only by being observant can new insights be gained. Next, having vision requires that a CEO keep from being restricted in his or her thinking by self-imposed (and usually unfounded) constraints. In other words, he or she must think “outside the box”. As a friend of mine likes to say, “If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them…”

How do you gain a fresh perspective? The most effective means is to remove yourself from the day-to-day and spend time reflecting. You’ll end up gaining new insights and perspectives on your business.

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The second skill that’s essential for CEO success is the ability to make decisions with incomplete information. Almost always, the vision of a new future requires heading into uncharted waters. There is no way to have all the facts before action is taken.

How do you gain this ability? It obviously requires some tolerance of risk, therefore a CEO can’t be overly risk averse. The key is to minimize the risk, so that if things don’t go as planned, all is not lost. It is essential to consider the various possible scenarios and then review the result of each. Making decisions without all the information requires a CEO be clear on the underlying problem so as not to address a symptom. But at some point, a decision must be made without having all the pieces of the puzzle.

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The third skill that every good CEO must possess is the ability to influence and persuade. Although a CEO can dictate his or her desires to the organization, the results gained from people who are simply complying will be very different than from those gained by a committed organization.

How can someone improve their ability to influence and persuade? It first requires that a CEO gain the trust and respect of the organization. Trust and respect are earned over time, and are determined as people observe the way in which we conduct ourselves on a daily basis. The level of trust and respect that people have for us greatly impacts the degree to which we are able to influence them.

The second aspect to influencing others relates to the fact that people “buy” emotionally. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about selling widgets or a vision of the future, people make their decisions to accept or reject on an emotional level. (They then use facts and logic to rationalize and justify their decision.) One of the most effective means of evoking emotion is through the use of stories. And some of the most effective stories are analogies. The artful use of analogies not only can evoke emotion, but can avoid arousing defensiveness in people. Effective CEO’s are master storytellers.

If you want to be a more effective CEO or want to prepare yourself to become CEO, it is essential to have vision and foresight, make decisions without all the facts, and master the ability to influence others.

If you’d like help developing these abilities, give us a call.

How to Develop Executive Presence

Executive presence is one of those things that’s hard to define, but essential to a leader’s ability to earn respect, influence others, and drive results. A person can have executive presence regardless of title or position. It’s not an elitist attitude or one of superiority, but rather one that projects an aura of credibility, confidence, and authority.

Having Executive Presence is the ability to project mature self-confidence, to project a sense of being able to take control of difficult situations, and to project the ability to make tough decisions. There’s no one thing that creates executive presence, but rather a combination of a number of factors. These factors fall into three categories – Appearance, Communication, and Demeanor.

Appearance
A leader can project competence and confidence with their appearance, which is composed of their dress and their body language.

People form opinions about others based on how they dress. They notice things like sloppy vs. neat, clean vs. dirty, formal vs. casual, poor fitting vs. well-fitting, and sense of style vs. lack of style. If you want to improve your executive presence and instill confidence, choose clothing that fits well, is clean, and displays some sense of style. Choose clothing appropriate to the office environment. A tech executive would generally dress differently than an investment banking executive.

We also communicate a great deal through our body language. Good posture projects strength and confidence. Poor posture projects weakness and a lack of confidence. A crisp pace suggests good energy, while a slow pace can appear as low energy. A firm handshake vs. a weak handshake, an appropriate level of eye contact vs. very little eye contact, leaning in vs. leaning back, sitting straight vs. slouching in a chair. Each of these actions either projects strength and confidence or projects weakness and a lack of confidence. If you want to instill confidence, you must appear confident.

Communication
Communication is effective when your message is clear and the person/people you are communicating with receive and understand that message.

You need to choose your words carefully, provide all the necessary information, and do so in a way that can’t be misinterpreted. Be clear about the points you want to make and then think through and/or write out how you want to make those points. Once you’ve written your message, re-read it a couple of times to see if your choice of words and phrasing can be improved. Additionally, read it from the point of view of the person who’ll be reading or hearing your message to see if it can be misinterpreted. If so, then add clarification to ensure your point is made clearly and effectively.

The manner in which you deliver your message also affects its impact. Use your voice expressively, adjusting pitch, pace and volume to convey the nature of your message. A higher pitch, faster pace and louder volume communicates enthusiasm and excitement. A deeper pitch, slower pace and lower volume communicates importance, seriousness and urgency. Adjust your manner of speaking to fit the message and the audience.

Demeanor
A person’s demeanor conveys their emotional state. It reflects the level of a person’s confidence, passion, decisiveness, and composure. Demeanor is projected by our speech, our facial expressions and by how animated we are.

As discussed above, use your pace and tone of speech to project confidence, passion, decisiveness and/or composure.

People read our facial expressions to determine our emotional state. Especially in times of stress or conflict, our facial expression tells a story. Expression can convey things like frustration, concern, apathy, nervousness, fear, confidence, displeasure, anger and/or happiness. However, sometimes in difficult situations it’s not wise to display our feelings. Sometimes, it’s better to project a “poker face” than to allow our current emotions to come through. In other words, to instill confidence and earn respect, it’s sometimes more effective to keep a strong emotion from showing on your face.

The final means of conveying confidence, passion, decisiveness and composure relates to how animated we are. Animated gesturing with your hands and moving your body communicate excitement, passion and enthusiasm. In contrast, expressing yourself in a reserved manner by keeping hands and body fairly motionless conveys confidence, composure and authority. Make sure your demeanor reflects your message.

In summary, in order to develop greater executive presence, craft your appearance, elevate the effectiveness of your communication, and be mindful of your demeanor. If you’d like help improving your executive presence, please call. It helps to have someone point out our blind spots.

The Three Leadership Competencies That Matter Most in Times of Crisis

In times of crisis and uncertainty, people experience the gamut of emotions. Some are afraid (of both the known and the unknown). Some people get angry, others are frustrated. Some get depressed and some feel lonely. The list goes on…

It’s because of this wide range of negative emotions that leaders need to step up and play an important role. Leaders need to de-escalate anxiety and fear, and they need to offer hope for the future.

Although there are many traits and competencies a good leader must possess, three stand out as critical in times of crisis – Executive Presence, Empathy, and Effective Communication.

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE
Having executive presence is the ability to project mature self-confidence, to project a sense of being able to take control of difficult situations, and to project the ability to make tough decisions. There’s no one thing that gives a leader executive presence. Instead, it’s a combination of a number of factors:

Confidence: Especially during a crisis, a leader must display a strong level of confidence without being overly confident. It’s OK not to have all the answers. And it’s OK for people to know a leader doesn’t have all the answers. In fact, being open (transparent) and honest (vulnerable) act to build trust and respect. Be confident, but not casual or over-confident, in order to have executive presence.
Decisiveness: In business, postponing a decision until more facts are revealed or the future becomes clearer can be a smart course of action. But often, leaders must make decisions without all the facts and without certainty about the future. Even though the future may be cloudy, a leader with executive presence must make decisions in the face of that uncertainty.
Authoritative: How a leader leads should vary with circumstances (situational leadership). Under normal circumstances, it might be most effective to lead by getting buy-in for an idea or by coming to a decision by consensus. But in times of crisis, a leader must be strong and act in an authoritative manner in order to have executive presence.
Body Language: Our body language communicates a large amount of information. Body language includes how we hold ourselves when we sit, stand and walk. How a leader carries him or herself reflects their state of mind, so it’s important to sit and stand in a manner that projects and instills confidence. In addition, facial expressions matter. People often read others by their facial expressions. A leader’s expression shouldn’t reflect casualness, anger or fear if their intent is to instill confidence. A leader with executive presence is mindful of his or her body language.
Emotional Control: For leaders to instill confidence, earn trust and earn respect, they must stay in control of their emotions. Emotional outbursts are seen as a loss of control and people know that a leader who loses control is feeling overwhelmed. An overwhelmed leader lacks executive presence. Be mindful of emotions and the expression of those emotions in order to have executive presence.

In times of crisis, it’s important to have a strong executive presence.

EMPATHY
A leader who has empathy understands the feelings, needs and concerns of others. He or she is able to define, understand, and react to the concerns and needs that underlie people’s emotional responses and reactions.

The issue here is the importance of treating people like people rather than like “things”. When a leader regards people as people, he or she acknowledges that everyone – regardless of position or tenure – has hopes and dreams, fears and stresses.

Although it’s never productive to treat people like “assets” or “resources”, it’s especially true in times of crisis. If a leader communicates and deals with people as if they were “things”, it demonstrates that the leader doesn’t care about them. And a leader who doesn’t care about the people he or she leads loses the respect and trust of those people.

It’s not that a leader with empathy accepts mediocrity or doesn’t hold people accountable. Instead, having empathy is about HOW they hold people accountable and how they bring out the best in people. Most people want to do a good job – especially in times of crisis. By being understanding and helping people be productive given their specific circumstances, a leader will get more engagement, better results, and earn their loyalty.

In times of crisis, it’s important to have empathy and treat people like people.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Especially in times of crisis, how and what we say can have an enormous impact on people. People are quick to interpret (or misinterpret) messages. People are more sensitive to tone and languaging. And people are looking for reassurance and hope.

In times of uncertainty, it is essential for a leader to choose his or her words carefully. Leaders must make sure they say exactly what they mean to say. Read and then re-read each note and/or message. Try to read it from the point of view of the reader to ensure the message can’t be misconstrued. Make sure the wording has the right emotional “feel” as well. Remember, the reader can’t hear inflections or emphasis when they read the note.

Along those lines, often a phone call, conference call or video call/meeting can be a better solution for addressing issues than written communication. People can hear a leader’s tone and sincerity in their voice. If video is added to the equation, people also get to see a leader’s body language.

In times of crisis, it’s important to take time to craft each message and how it’s delivered.

If you’d like help with any of this, reach out to us. We specialize in helping leaders become more effective and help them bring out the best in people.