Elevating Your Presence

What experience do you create for others?  

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What is presence?

Presence is people's immediate and emotional experience when interacting with you and a key input to your overall personal brand and effectiveness as a leader. Leaders with a high-impact presence believe that every interaction matters and take visible ownership of the effect they have on everyone.

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Why is it important?

Investing in your presence is an investment in yourself and the quality of your interactions and relationships. The immediate benefit is stronger relationships and connections, which result in broader influence and impact along with personal growth and well-being. In the long term, your presence plays an integral role in building trust, confidence, and credibility in you as a leader.

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Do you have a presence?

Everyone has a presence, and your presence is unique to you–it cannot be replicated. The question is whether it is the presence you want and the presence that is effective and accretive to your overall brand and reputation. Leaders with a high-impact presence practice five simple but not easy principles in every interaction.  With each principle, they strive to activate three behavioral elements that enhance the impact of their presence and create meaningful connections.

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Practices of Presence

Goal Clarity - Focused. Intentional. Prepared.

Goal clarity drives purpose. You visibly focus on what's important, clearly articulate the why, operate intentionally in your choices and interactions, and believe preparedness is a gateway to adding value and impact.

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Unlock Commitment - Composed. Connected. Present.

Unlocking commitment prioritizes people. You genuinely care about people and connect with everyone you interact with by being fully present, engaging in authentic curiosity, listening to learn and understand, and adapting appropriately to each situation.

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Impactful Ideas - Confident. Concise. Aligned.

Impactful ideas align ideas with what matters most. You communicate clearly and confidently, distinguishing trust and confidence from familiarity and exercising sound judgment when contributing your perspective and insights.

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Decisive Action - Credible. Logical. Motivational.

Decisive action moves work forward. You say what you will do and do what you say, think through "what" and "so what," and present a clear "now what" that both motivates and empowers action with clear next steps, relevant feedback, and encouragement.

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Execution Excellence - Invested. Engaged. Accountable.

Execution excellence builds trust and confidence. You are 100% committed to your promises and the success of everyone involved while always taking responsibility for your actions by owning the outcome, learning from your mistakes, continuously seeking feedback to ensure your impact matches your intent, and investing in your growth and well-being.

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Where do you start?

Success in your practice begins with the right mindset. You must believe that the impact of each interaction extends far beyond the moment and that prioritizing meaningful and impactful contributions in every interaction is a choice that matters to you, others, and the business. Now that you are in the right mindset, start with these three steps:

1. You can start your journey of intentionality by assessing your strengths, challenges, and opportunities across the five principles. (See Method Card: Presence Assessment) and create some hypotheses to test.
2. Your everyday interactions are the best place to test your hypotheses. Start noticing real interactions, formal and informal, to validate your assessment and test your hypotheses. Tip: Consider getting some feedback to close the gap between perception and reality.
3. Examine your data and enhance your presence by designing ONE edit to your behavior that you are committed to making a habit in all your interactions–formal and informal. Be sure to capture results. What worked? What didn’t? How will you adjust? What was the impact–for you, others, the business?

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