Leadership Presence

An area of leadership that is often not discussed enough or focused sufficiently on is “presence”. That being how we choose to best portray ourselves intentionally in the moment, based upon the situation and person. When I use words like “portray”, some ask whether a person is being “inauthentic” to their core identity and the answer is no. When you intentionally choose how you need to present yourself through a choice of portrayal, you are not being inauthentic-rather-you are seeking to be most effective.

Unfortunately, our human tendency to allow our brains to dominate our “default mode”, gets in the way of managing our presence. That default, subconscious mode (sometimes referred to as our autopilot or cruise control) pulls us in upwards of 80% of our day, on average. As a result, we tend to operate in a routine or automatic mode that is most comfortable for us, rather, than most effective for interacting and communicating with others.

Everyone can enhance their presence and candidly need to. A core reason is we are being conditioned in society for many reasons to routinely evaluate or question individuals we interact with behavior. Trust is harder to come by. We get fact checked more often. People are seeking a win-win in our interactions. It’s become more difficult to gain and hold others attention.

For those reasons, being committed to constant focus on how we present ourselves is an imperative. Gone are the days when we can get away with expressing (or thinking) “everyone just needs to get to know me as I’ve been this way for decades”. That way of thinking is outdated and can work against us. Presenting ourselves in a more personalized manner is what rules.

A good start is to get some feedback from others you trust on how you present yourself in diverse situations-especially the conflict ridden ones. It’s also useful to observe (not judge) others interactions and reflect on: do I do that (either positively or negatively)?

This is a very coachable area and if you would like some help here, reach out to me.