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What Is Executive Presence?
Executive presence is that elusive quality you recognize when you see it. It resists a tidy formula. Most experienced leaders desire it, and emerging leaders want to develop it. A compelling leadership presence helps you build trust, credibility, and followership.
The Three Dimensions of Executive Presence
Coqual conducted a 2012 study that included surveys of college-graduate professionals and one-on-one interviews with high-level executives. They concluded that executive presence has three universal dimensions: gravitas, communication, and appearance. Within this model, gravitas contributes 67 percent toward one’s executive presence, communication contributes 28 percent, and appearance rounds it out at 5 percent.
Gravitas
Gravitas, being the most influential quality in carrying a compelling leadership presence, includes some very hard words: show teeth, burnishing reputation (to burnish is to give something a smooth, shiny look), exude confidence. It is important to acknowledge that this model is based on North American, white leaders, predominantly male.
The six attributes listed in gravitas are foundational to good leadership. We reserve the right to adjust the adjectives to match the organizational or contextual culture of the organization, and the ethnic culture with which the leader identifies as an individual.
Communication
Communication skills are crucial. It is your only musical instrument in the symphony of leadership. Share your thoughts with confidence, present grace under pressure, and strike a balance between talking and listening so that your style is engaging, persuasive, and impactful. I would personally rate it much higher than 28 percent.
Appearance
Appearance matters. You have to look like you have some pride, in yourself and in the way you carry yourself.
Why Executive Presence Matters for Advancement
Coqual’s founder, and author of the book Executive Presence, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, states clearly that executive presence is not a measure of performance, it is a measure of image. And yet, executive presence constitutes 26 percent of what senior leaders say it takes to get the next promotion. (Your executive presence needs a second look – Recover to Lead)
Context, Culture, and Authenticity
The benefit of the study and the book is that they define an elusive concept. In a post-COVID world, where we all reconnected with our humanity, it needs to be held loosely to accommodate your authenticity. Executives still need presence. The formula is less clear than it was before, and it should leave space for a unique, contextually appropriate interpretation of the concept.
How to Build It, and How Executive Presence Coaching Helps
Executive presence should become the representation of yourself in a professional setting, achieving confidence, decision-making capacity, truthfulness, emotional intelligence, good reputation, and shared vision. Executive presence coaching and executive presence training provide focused practice, feedback, and accountability as you strengthen these behaviors in the rooms that matter, in person and virtual.
Whether you are preparing for a promotion, leading through change, or rebuilding trust, a coach can help you make intentional shifts that others notice and value.
How will you know it is working for you?
- Ask for feedback from trusted peers and mentors.
- Ask your coach to observe your presence in a room with your team.
- Do you feel you are getting positive results from your interactions with others?
If you want a thinking partner on this journey, Sage and Summit offers executive presence coaching, leadership coaching, and team coaching tailored to your context.
