- Executive presence is a practice. Executive presence isn’t something we’re born with. It’s something we practice in order to improve, just like yoga or law.
- The following four elements are key to understanding executive presence: integrity, conviction of belief, clarity of thought, and composure under pressure. You don’t have to do every single thing you learned in this Lesson in order to be executive; instead, experiment and find the particular combination of qualities that fits and feels authentic for you. The point, as with the rest of the CCO, is to give you more tools to work with and choose from.
- Here are two ways to practice integrity so you get better at being executive: (1) truth-telling and (2) orienting from a for-the-business perspective. Being agreeable at all costs is something you may need to set aside as you advance in your career in favor of being a truth-teller. Being right at all costs is something you will need to set aside in order to be for-the-business.
- Here are three ways to practice conviction of belief so you get better at being executive: (1) take a stand and use initiative to solve problems rather than ignoring them because they aren’t in your scope; (2) avoid laying unexamined questions on the table for somebody else to deal with; instead, come forward with your opinions; (3) look for the white spaces and the action vacuums in your domain and do something about them! Some of the best careers have been made out of fixing problems before someone asked.