Authenticity and Executive Presence

How apt is this quote - who are we and how do we each show up every day?

Be Yourself, everyone else is already taken" ~Oscar Wilde~

In the ICF Australasia Victoria webinar I hosted this week featuring Suzanne Bates, CEO Bates Communications, on All the Leader You Can Be - The What and Why of Executive Presence, Suzanne defines executive presence as:

"the qualities of a leader that engage, inspire, align, and move people to act"

Her extensive research resulted in the first and only science based model in the world that can measure Executive Presence - Bates ExPI? (Bates Executive Presence Index?) across 15 facets in three dimensions of Character, Substance, Style. One of the facets under the Character dimension is Authenticity which is associated with words like genuine, sincere, transparent, dependable, unguarded, shares experience, revealing beliefs.

"Authenticity is being real, genuine, transparent and sincere, in one's relations and interactions with others"

Listening to Suzanne took me to the work I do as a Reach Personal Brand Master Strategist where Personal Brand is defined as a Unique Promise of Value.

Unique = Differentiation

Promise = Authenticity

Value = Relevance

Authenticity is realness, comfort in self, attracting followers, natural. Authenticity is individual and comes through values, passions, and strengths. It is not forced nor manufactured nor imitated. It does not have a mask!

When we are not fully ourselves, people notice and sense the incompleteness. They feel the energy that has us "playing the role" or suppressing the real us. People often wonder to themselves "who is the real person?" and "what is underneath that skin?". People may not be able to put their finger on it except for feeling like there has to be more.

"The most exhausting thing you can do is to be inauthentic" ~Anne Morrow Lindberg~

Therefore, the questions that I challenge us to consider include:

• How does perceived inauthenticity impact relationships, trust, collaboration? How does this influence the outcomes that matter?
• How authentically do you show up day in, day out, in your life, your work and your world? How do you know? What would others say?

I am looking forward to your contribution to this conversation.

Grace Thomas, PCC, works with senior executive leaders and leadership teams to explore deeply, experiment with something new, extend what works, embed new mindsets and habits to succeed at what matters most to them and, in turn, empower people around them (in their work, their life and their world) to flourish. She does this as an executive leadership coach, leadership team effectiveness adviser and a personal brand master strategist, all with 'heat and heart'. She is also a volunteer leader as President of ICF Australasia Victoria.

#heatandheart #professionalcoaching #coachingexcellence #consciouschoice #personalbrand #executivepresence