The Executive Presence Trap

“You need more executive presence.”

I’ve heard versions of this phrase throughout my career.

And I have heard from clients that lack of executive presence was the reason someone was not being promoted.

Sometimes it meant:

• not confident enough
• not polished enough
• too quiet
• not visible enough
• not leader-like enough

How you can tap into your team’s wisdom (including…

As a leader of a team, have you ever wished your team would contribute more of their talents?

That:

• They would proactively make suggestions?
• Capable, quieter members would speak up?
• People would share their thoughts when asked?
• Issues were raised earlier?
• The team would engage with each other and solve problems together?

Stop telling people to ‘speak up more’ if you…

How often do you tell people to “speak up more”?

• Maybe you have a quiet team member that you really want to hear more from.
• Maybe you want some feedback from team members and they’re not giving it to you.
• Maybe you have team members who speak to you individually but say nothing in meetings.
• Maybe you found out about issues too late and want to avoid that happening again.

In any case, you have a sense that you are missing out on useful, sometimes critical information when people do not speak to you or don’t speak up in meetings.

Listening – the underrated tool for risk management

In boardrooms and executive teams, risk management is a standing agenda item. Leaders invest in policies, audits, insurance, and compliance systems. But often, one critical ingredient does not get enough attention — and it’s not a policy or a framework. It’s listening.

What Messages Are People Receiving Through Your Leadership Behaviours?

In my previous article, I shared that ‘Many of us underestimate what we are capable of.’ This talked about As leaders, we often focus on the words we say and the policies we put in place, believing they are sending the right messages needed to guide their teams. While words and policies are important, what many leaders forget is that they are constantly sending messages—24/7—through their behaviours, body language, and implicit actions. And here’s the kicker: it is not the leader who gets to interpret what these messages mean. It is the people around them who decide what story those behaviours tell.

Messages received is what matters.

Labelling Divides, Listening Builds Bridges

Have you noticed how much and how often we label others?

It is easier to place people in neat categories—labels that we believe define others’ values, intentions, or intelligence. Whether it’s generational terms like “Boomer” and “Gen Z,” political identities like “right-wing” and “woke”, gender, race, personalities, religion, or even viewpoints on contentious topics like vaccines or reproductive rights, labels serve as quick identifiers.

Leadership emergence is NOT the same as Leadership effectiveness

Have you seen ‘mistaken’ leadership appointments or promotions where people who appeared to have leadership potential did not turn out to be the best leaders?

On the flipside, have you seen people with great leadership capabilities or potential being overlooked, perhaps because they are not as visible or do not fit the ‘prototype’ of who looks, sounds or feels leader-like?