Have you ever been in the presence of someone whose presence clearly marked them as a leader? That presence has a term that describes it; executive presence. While not all leaders have executive presence, those who do seem to rise above others, even when they might not have the title of leader. That is to say, while not all leaders have executive presence, not all those who have executive presence have the title of leader, even though they carry with them the unofficial title into every encounter and meeting.

Some acquire Executive presence by instinct, yet the qualities and behaviors that make up executive presence can be learned. While it can be subjective and vary across cultures and contexts, eight core skills/behaviors make up executive presence and many lesser ones. Among the eight core skills/behaviors, there is a certain degree of overlap where one skill/behavior has aspects of another even while having unique qualities of its own. Each of the skills/behaviors fit the Goldilocks paradigm. That is, most people have each of these skills/behaviors but either exhibit too little or too much. The person who is perceived as having an executive presence is the individual who has found the sweet spot of “just right” for each of the skills/behaviors. These are the Level 5 leaders.

When exploring the different skills/behaviors, both ends of the extreme will be touched upon and what it looks like when it is “just right.” Evaluating one’s self in each of these skills/behaviors accurately and then implementing a plan to move toward the sweet spot takes an extraordinary level of self-awareness (which is part of one of the skills/behaviors). Since most assume they are self-aware, it will be the unique individual who can set aside their own bias and open themselves up to accurate scrutiny, which is why executive presence is so attractive and so elusive. It can’t be accomplished by reading an article.

It requires focused study and discipline to evolve to the point that others perceive executive presence. Sadly, most will read this article and check off each of the skills/behaviors as accomplished and therefore assume that they have this elusive quality . . . when in fact they do not. Beware of confirmation bias which resists self-awareness and change.

In the following posts I’ll describe the eight skills/behaviors that I believe make up executive presence. For each one, I’ll try to describe what it looks like when there is too little, or too much of that particular skill/behavior, as well as focus on the “just right.”