What EP Is And What It Isn't
If you ever watched The West Wing TV series in the early 2000's (or have ever watched it since on Prime) you'll remember the 'Presidential voice' episode with Amy Gardner (aka Mary-Louise Parker). "You don't have the presidential voice..." Amy tells Matt Santos (aka Jimmy Smits) when he was in training for his presidential run. The purported presidential voice was elusive, never defined - and apparently you either had it or you didn't. This is how I used to think of the term 'executive presence'. Like it is something you were born with - or not. If the former, lucky you. If the latter, then perhaps you'd be better suited to something else - like tying daisy chains...
It was frustrating to think that part of what I needed in order to succeed was a DNA thing and not something under my control. That it was something other people would know when they saw it in me - and something that I should never expect to be able to understand or perfect. I don't think I was alone in my frustration. Happily, this state of state of unknowing was short lived.
Enter Paul Aldo's book 'Understanding Executive Presence and How to Make it Work for You'. The book was recommended to me by a fellow coach and since reading the quick 150 or so pages, I am here to tell you that executive presence is not etherial, but rather a tangible set of behaviors that you can use to improve your career advancement prospects. If, at some point in your career, you were told that you lacked executive presence, and if you heard that feedback and thought "What does that even mean?", this article (and Paul Aldo's book) are for you.
Executive presence isn’t about what you know or how well you perform. Those are your expertise and your skills. Instead, executive presence is a 'persona that we project to others through our behavior'. Specifically, through nine behaviors or 'dimensions': the 'personal' ones of passion, poise and self-confidence; the 'communication' ones of candor, clarity and openness; and the 'relationship' ones of sincerity, thoughtfulness and warmth.
Where does image and branding come in to the executive presence conversation? When we talk about the three dimensions that are 'personal', the ones that are 'about us' are the ones that have to do with image and bearing. These three dimensions are passion, poise and self-confidence. This is where your stance, your eye contact, your handshake, your clothes, your voice - all come in to play. And if you’re not intentionally managing your image, you’re leaving a critical part of your leadership potential untapped.
Image Coaching: A Client's EP Story
Let's call her Sarah. Sarah had never thought about image as playing a role in her career. She prided herself (with good reason) on her intelligence, her experience and her work ethic. She assumed that her education, skills and expertise were the only things that would be assessed when she applied for an overdue promotion.
She didn't get the promotion in the end - and she was stunned. The feedback received, in part, was that she didn't have executive presence. There was no follow up that included how the company defined executive presence or how she might go about getting it. Frustrated and determined - Sarah took the initiative and signed up with a great coach. She did 1:1 coaching over the next six months, delving into strategic communication, career strategy, smart decision-making, leadership style - and she developed some 'strong muscles' as she put it. But, she didn't feel like she was being perceived differently enough at work. That she was still missing s piece of the puzzle.
It was two months after her coaching ended when a friend asked Sarah if she had ever thought about image coaching as the missing puzzle piece. (Sarah was still smarting from being passed over for the promotion nearly a year before.) This friend knows me, but more importantly she knows the ROI that image coaching produced for a mutual acquaintance of ours. She suggested it to Sarah as a 'yes, and' solution - executive coaching AND image coaching. Sarah later told me that her initial reaction to her friend's suggestion was 'I don’t need a makeover'. Her second reaction was 'Does my friend think I look bad?'. To her credit, Sarah was open-minded. She did some research on me and eventually reached out to Venus Rising.
During our sessions, it became clear that Sarah’s struggle wasn’t about what she knew—it was about how she was presenting herself. She hadn't realized that executive presence is a set of nine behaviors. She didn't know that the way others perceive these behaviors determines whether or not others see us as having executive presence. And, Sarah didn't know that the three 'personal' behaviors of passion, poise and self-confidence are linked to our image and bearing - our style - and that these are often the first part of our executive presence being evaluated by others.
We went to work. We figured out how Sarah wanted to look in the workplace - what message(s) she wanted to send. We revised her wardrobe to match those intentions. We basically aligned her image with the leader she already was. Sarah found a confidence level that she hadn't known before. She felt polished, but at the same time comfortable and still 'Sarah-like'. She didn’t just change her clothes—she changed the way she showed up. She started getting comments at work: “You look different. There’s something about you.” It was a win for Sarah - just to be perceived as being as impressive on the outside as she is on the inside. And yes... a few months later, she applied for and got a promotion. The icing on the cake.
Image Coaching is Your EP Secret Weapon
If you’re struggling to be seen as a leader, you may want to think about whether you need help to look the part that you want to play. That’s what image coaching does. It transforms how you show up in a world that makes snap judgements in seconds. It’s the alignment -between how you see yourself and the behaviors you are demonstrating to others - that gives you control over your executive presence. And when those two things click...the game changes.
Let me know if I can help.
Eileen
