Muriel Wilkins on building executive presence: "If you're trying to build your executive presence, you have to think about your mindset."
Hello Monday host Jessi Hempel is on leave. In her absence, LinkedIn editorial fellow Samantha Roberson brings you this week's newsletter.
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Has this happened to you? You’re going for a promotion —maybe you’re quite senior in your organization. You’ve delivered on your projects and things are going great, but you don’t get the promotion.
Instead, you get this feedback: she just needs more “executive presence.”
When you ask, "What’s executive presence?" The answer can be hard to parse. "It’s like, well it’s...I mean, like that guy over there, he has strong executive presence." And you wonder: is there a formula for it? Can you get better at it?
Muriel Wilkins believes there is. Muriel’s a coach — she hosts a podcast with Harvard Business Review called Coaching Real Leaders, and she actually coaches people on the show along with her business partner, Amy Su. She has also written a book on this concept of presence called Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence.
Jessi asked Muriel to explain executive presence. But as she said, Muriel’s a coach, and before long, Muriel was coaching Jessi.
You can download the episode to hear about it, or listen to it below. Then, please, share your own thoughts and tag them #HelloMonday so we can jump into the conversation.
??Here are some highlights….
On creating an impact: "I've seen the most junior people in the room exude leadership presence and then the most senior people not doing it at all. And so what is it that they demonstrate? They are able to create an impact, create a feeling. When you're around them, you walk away feeling like they're credible and you also walk away feeling like they are relatable or connected to you."
On mindset: "If you're trying to build your executive presence, you have to think about your mindset. Is it working for you?
On combining credibility and connectivity: "It's the integration of both. And the fact of the matter is we actually have both within us. But through the way that we have raised conditioned learned behavior, we tend to end up using one more than the other. Having a signature voice is finding the intersection both the integration of both, rather than living in this black or white."
On understanding inspiration as a leader: "If you're leading an organization, and you truly want to motivate them and inspire them, then you really better understand what is it that inspires them."
?? Office Hours: Taking your questions
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?? Transcripts: Now available.
Each week we'll be updating these articles with a link to the transcript of the episode. Here's this week's.
Providing interim leadership during organizational transition
3 年Muriel, It is so good to get a good dose of your wisdom. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on executive presence and for making sense of the mysterious characteristics!
Future of Work | People & Culture | Diversity Equity & Inclusion - Building a better workplace for everyone to grow in.
3 年Does executive presence also have a lot to do with leadership and empathy? I’ve come to learn that there are certain times when you have to lead from out in front. And there are certain times when you have to lead from the back, letting others step up to drive the organization forward while you push it along and clean things up from the back. And then there are a lot of times, which I think are the most powerful, when you’re leading from inside, shoulder-to-shoulder with people. My last talk in this topic revolved around getting and give respect to others but whatever it is, it's here to stay.
Speaker, Consultant, Coach - Focus on harnessing the power of change and innovation to help implement a Mutual Benefit culture in business.
3 年Presence is great, however the real challenge today is to change our way of thinking...not just our presence, goals, processes, systems, policies, and view of the end-state. We need the imagination to grasp the immense promise and challenge of the inter-connected organization... https://the-corporate-entrepreneur.simplecast.com/episodes/leadership-time-for-a-change
I seek a Career Change to Virtually or Locally Offering Exemplary Customer Support, Success & Experience. My passion is to drive a client's heightened satisfaction & help businesses to thrive.
3 年Valuable perspective & advice, Muriel~~very insightful~~thanks for sharing this interview, Jessi ?? ??
Founder/ Editor-in-Chief at hertelier
3 年Loved this interview. So many great ideas and new approaches to consider when thinking about leadership as how to apply it to your own career. I love the Hello Monday podcast! ??