What is Executive Leadership Presence?

Control is the power to influence. Power is the ability to direct or influence the behavior of others without force. Influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behavior of someone or something. Trust must be built in order for the leader to forge the way toward executing the vision.

The type of presence that we refer to is a combination of many factors, including the ability to:

Authentically connect with other people’s thoughts
Empathize with their feelings
Influence actions in service
Motivate those being led to an established vision
Inspire those to want to contribute to the outcome
Get things done

You often see leadership presence and executive presence used interchangeably. I’d like to present a clearly distinct difference.

Leadership presence combines self-confidence, self-worth, self-respect, self-regard, and the ability to relate and connect on a personal level. It means striking a balance between speaking and listening and persuading others without becoming overbearing.

Executive presence regards the ability to execute on a vision for the betterment of the organization.

Executive leadership presence has aspects of both. A leader who uses their presence to execute on ideas.

While leadership presence is relatively easy to spot because you can see evidence, it’s more difficult to describe. 51% of HR practitioners that are well-versed in the topic say that it’s difficult to define.

What is paramount is that an organization arrive at their own definition of leadership presence. Then build the most appropriate course of action around that definition in order to bring it to life within the culture. The test for determining the effectiveness of leadership development is its workability in real time.