Use these tips to cultivate your own executive presence — it could make the difference between being replaced by AI, or becoming indispensable.
Despite various projections about AI’s impact on job displacement and creation over the next three years, there is little doubt that the future of work will encounter a dramatic shift. According to a September report from Demandsage.com, AI could potentially replace up to 300 million jobs globally including areas involving tech, administrative work, and manufacturing.
One take away is that you are much more valuable as a leader than an individual contributor. So how can you reinforce your perceived value as a leader? By developing executive presence (EP), which creates impressions around your ability to align, engage, inspire, and move people to action.
The first step is to establish a clear understanding of the factors that contribute to executive presence. The Center for Talent Innovation found that feedback on EP is often contradictory and confusing, with 81% of those instructed to improve their executive presence unclear as to how to act upon the feedback. This is why it is one of the top two reasons executives receive coaching.
While it may seem like an ambiguous concept, there are concrete characteristics and meaningful ways to enhance EP.
No one is born with presence, but it can be cultivated. Authors of the 2024 article, Executive Presence: Elevating Your Leadership and Career explain that “At its core, presence is about the aura or the subtle-yet-impactful vibe a leader emits.”
Ask yourself: “What adjectives would the decision-makers, those who will be in the room determining the value you bring to the organization, currently use to describe you?” and “What adjectives would you most desire them to use when describing you as a leader or unique contributor?”
Using the second list of adjectives, think critically about how you can build upon or create desired impressions through your communication and consistent behavior.
Three skills that enhance executive presence
1: Communication
Every opportunity to communicate is an opportunity to influence. Your emails, one-on-one conversations, interactions during meetings, and delivery of project updates or formal presentations all make impressions about you.
The language you use also paints a picture of you as a leader and of the work that you do.
Tip 1: Find ways to fine tune your ability to craft and deliver messages with confidence. The goal is to be clear, concise, and compelling. Find executive education opportunities that focus on communication and public speaking skills. A three-day course could transform how you communicate and how others perceive your level of sophistication and knowledge.
Tip 2: Begin to incorporate your most desired adjectives into your daily language when discussing your leadership and your/your team’s work. If you want to be seen as innovative, say things like, “I took an innovative approach to the problem at hand and created….” Or, “I encouraged the team to be innovative when thinking about designing a solution.”
2: Confidence
We often think of confidence as an extroverted style of behavior. While confidence can be “owning the space,” it can also be quiet.
In terms of executive presence, confidence is seen as self-assurance, recognition of one’s own abilities, or level of comfort. Gravitas can be defined as conveying dignity, substance, or weight. These two concepts go hand in hand.
Together, the goal becomes to display self-confidence in your abilities, composure in the way you communicate, and grace under fire. These characteristics involve both verbal and nonverbal cues.
Tip 1: Nonverbal (body language) cues
Learn how to confidently:
- Walk across a room or into a space
- Gesture smoothly and with open palms
- Display or control facial expressions. Smiling is great, but in high-power situations too much smiling is viewed as less serious.
- Use time. People who are confident pause before speaking, do not display rushed behavior, and are cognizant of using their and other’s time wisely.
Tip 2: Verbal cues
- Direct language: “I recommend…” rather than “I think this could…”
- Active language: “I led the group…” rather than “The group conducted…”
- Minimal verbal fillers: Avoiding uh, um, like, you know
- Pausing before answering: Shows you are taking time to consider the question
3: Display Values in Action
Values in action were identified by 97% of surveyed professionals as a key attribute of executive presence. It is described as “the extent to which the person acts in accordance with principled personal values.”
In the book, The Presence Principle: Embodying Executive Presence to Lead with Impact Dr. Carl DuPont and I walk readers through the process of identifying core values and embodying them for others to see.
Take a moment to write down a list of what you value, and how it informs how you operate and make decisions.
As a leader, you might value: Achievement, autonomy, change, competence, competition, cooperation, creativity, curiosity, decisiveness, economic security, efficiency, ethics, excellence, experimentation, expertise, freedom, growth, helping society, honesty, humor, innovation, loyalty, originality, personal development, etc.
Once you have identified your values, reflect on whether you are currently modeling and communicating those values in an explicit manner.
If you see a need to enhance how others perceive your values, think of attitudes, actions, or communication opportunities that would allow you to display and reinforce them.
Smart career strategy
Ultimately, executive presence is not about adopting a false persona, but rather about intentionally showcasing the leadership qualities you already possess through strategic communication, confident behavior, and authentic alignment with your core values.
