“Carson is smart, people like her, she gets things done. But we can’t promote her to VP yet. She has no executive presence.”
Carson‘s reaction when she heard those words from her senior management:
“But, but, but … I’m qualified! I don’t get it!”
That one missing ingredient was stopping it all.
What is executive presence?
It’s an aura.
An aura is the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround, and is generated by, humans. It’s a subtle emanation and is regarded as an essential part of the individual and who they are.
It comes from the Greek word aura which meant “cool breeze”.
An aura is what you emanate. Not what you’re trying to emanate. But what you do emanate. Whether or not you are speaking. Even silently, you emanate.
It’s powerful.
What Carson emanated when we started her coaching was intense focus, intelligence, and determination. Without realizing it, she also emanated an undercurrent of anxiety and “trying to please”, especially when she was talking to people above her on the command line.
Carson couldn’t see herself, she only saw the reactions of others, reactions that didn’t make sense to her because she couldn’t see herself.
Her peers, and all the people who report to her, respected her authority. Not so for the folks above her. She didn’t have the executive presence to join the executive rank. A VP and above needs this.
As I reviewed Carson’s videos with her during our coaching sessions, I showed her exactly what she was doing and what she was missing. When she saw it herself, she realized that what she was emanating explained why her management was reacting the way they were.
Carson needed to first understand and have presence before she could begin to master executive presence, a highly specialized presence that communicates altitude.
She wanted to know: What are the key ingredients? What are the steps from here to there? How does it become natural?
We worked on presence first.
Then, as Carson unveiled the mystery behind an executive presence aura during her coaching, hers completely changed. With no effort. Carson just naturally shifted into it.
Others now say that when they look at Carson, what they see is “the aura of an executive”. They can’t put their finger on what she’s doing, and they’re all more than a little mystified at how she did it seemingly overnight.
Carson’s organization is in the middle of a major re-org. It’s a chaos that is driving many people crazy. Tremendous confusion and uncertainty. Promotions that had been promised are now null and void.
It’s in the middle of this turbulent tumult that Carson was told last week by numerous people, many of them higher up, that what she now emanates is “poise in the face of chaos.”
People calm down when she’s in the room. She has an extraordinary presence.
Carson also has a new aura of authority and command. The aura of a leader. And it’s with this aura that she approaches all of her meetings and conversations
Carson is not “becoming” a vice president. She is being a vice president
You have one aura when you are becoming what you want to be. You have a completely different aura when you are being what you want to be.
Carson is NOT, “Faking it until she makes it.” Don’t think for a minute that you can get away with “faking it”. It has to be real.
Real is real. And the world can instantly sense whether it’s real.
The re-org chaos that’s infected everyone else has no effect on her. Why?
Because Carson’s in control of her journey.
Carson now commands attention. She commands respect from every level of the organization.
It’s not the kind of command where she gives orders. Command is very different than demand.
Carson demands nothing. She commands everything. She uses a very light touch, yet her light touch is convincing and very well received.
Carson is now on the fast track for her promotion with support coming from the very top of the organization.
Senior Management is now telling Carson and each other, “She should be a VP.” They want her in the room. They want her at the table. She belongs there. And when it’s that obvious to everyone, the decision to make it happen will be made and sooner than you think.
You can imagine how much Carson is enjoying this. She’s having the time of her life. She has great ideas that will really help her organization. She loves people and she’s there to help them win. Now she’s in a position to make a difference on a large scale. It’s a real, “Look out, world!” moment in Carson’s life, as well as for all the people who see it coming and are looking forward to having her as their leader.
Presence delivers your message before you ever speak a word. Most people see the effects of their presence without fully understanding its cause or how to control it.
Developing executive presence does not happen by accident, it is not a power reserved for the few.
Executive presence is engineered. And it is within the reach of anyone who understands how it works and acquires the skills to create it.
Once that happens, there is no “door” that will remain closed to you.
Be the cause!