How to Develop Executive Presence and Command the Room With Confidence

Summary

In this insightful video, Dr. Grace Lee dives into the essentials of developing executive presence. She explains the term 'executive presence' as the ability to exude authority and confidence regardless of one's job title. The video is structured around five practical steps to enhance this presence, focusing on both outer components like communication and appearance, and inner components such as confidence and control. Dr. Lee offers valuable advice for those seeking to lead effectively and command a room with ease.

Highlights

• Dr. Grace Lee breaks down executive presence into understandable components 🌟
• Key focus on both communication and inner confidence 💪
• Five practical steps to develop executive presence shared 📝
• Importance of connection through eye contact and trust-building stressed 👀
• Step-by-step guidance from building trust to creating a polished image included 🕴️

Key Takeaways

• Understand both inner and outer components of executive presence 🧐
• Communicate with authority to connect and persuade 💬
• Build trust through eye contact and genuine connection 👀
• Conduct yourself with poise and awareness at all times 👑
• Develop a polished image that exudes confidence 🕴️

Overview

Dr. Grace Lee kicks off the video by clarifying what executive presence truly entails. It's more than a corporate buzzword; it's about manifesting qualities that denote you as a leader worthy of respect and attention. She breaks down executive presence into 'outer' and 'inner' components, where the outer involves your actions and public communication, and the inner reflects your self-control, confidence, and credibility.

In the video, Dr. Lee shares five steps to develop executive presence, starting with communicating with authority. She emphasizes the need to command a room through strong communication skills, thus helping you present insights and shift beliefs. Building trust is another step, where eye contact and genuine connection are crucial. It's about opening up dialogues that foster mutual respect and understanding.

Further into the video, she talks about conducting oneself with poise and creating a polished image that resonates confidence. Dr. Lee stresses the significance of understanding and projecting a confident persona. Lastly, she encourages viewers to conceive an executive identity, urging you to design your persona intentionally to align with leadership goals, thus living life by design rather than by default.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Understanding Executive Presence In the 'Introduction and Understanding Executive Presence' chapter, the author discusses the significance of developing executive presence in the workplace. The chapter outlines five practical steps to help individuals enhance their executive presence, regardless of their position or job title. The concept of executive presence is examined as it is frequently mentioned across various platforms, creating a pressure for people to develop it. The author aims to clarify what executive presence truly entails.
• 01:30 - 03:00: Outer and Inner Components of Executive Presence The chapter defines 'Executive Presence' as a set of qualities that signal to others that an individual is, or deserves to be, in charge. It emphasizes the importance of both outer and inner components that contribute to executive presence. The outer components are what people observe.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Step 1: Communicate with Authority This chapter covers the concept of executive presence, which is divided into inner and outer components. The focus here is on the outer components, particularly action, communication, and impression. Action is emphasized as how one behaves, acts, and the decisions made. The chapter begins exploring these facets in detail, initially focusing on action.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Invitation for Further Engagement In this chapter, the focus is on understanding the components that contribute to an individual's executive presence. It is divided into outer and inner components. Outer components include aspects such as verbal communication, persuasiveness, and non-verbal cues like poise, posture, and appearance. The inner components are centered around personal attributes like confidence, credibility, and self-control, which are crucial for building a strong executive presence.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Step 2: Connect to Build Trust In this chapter titled 'Step 2: Connect to Build Trust,' the focus is on the importance of communication skills for building trust and executive presence. The chapter distinguishes between interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are referred to as the outer component, while intrapersonal skills are the inner component. The inner component includes managing oneself, emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and personal philosophies. These skills collectively contribute to the image of a great leader, who is perceived as having humble and natural confidence as well as effective communication abilities. The chapter emphasizes that these components are crucial in developing an executive presence that fosters trust.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Step 3: Conduct Through Poise This chapter, titled 'Step 3: Conduct Through Poise,' focuses on enhancing one's executive presence by mastering communication skills. It emphasizes the importance of possessing deep knowledge in specific domains and being able to articulate this knowledge persuasively. The key is to communicate in a way that is clear and understandable, aiming to gain buy-in from the audience. The chapter underscores that executive presence is demonstrated through the ability to present ideas compellingly and foster agreement and support for one's proposals.
• 15:00 - 20:00: Step 4: Create a Polished Image In this chapter, the focus is on developing personal executive presence, which is crucial for professional success. The author outlines five practical steps to cultivate this presence. The chapter begins by emphasizing the significance of mastering communication skills. This involves speaking with authority, commanding the room, providing valuable insights, persuading others, and facilitating change. It is highlighted that the first and last steps in the process are the most critical, urging readers to pay special attention to them throughout their journey of developing executive presence.
• 20:00 - 23:30: Step 5: Conceive an Executive Identity The chapter discusses the importance of commanding presence and connecting with an audience through effective communication. Mastering communication skills is emphasized as a key aspect of creating impactful content and speaking intelligently in the workplace. The speaker encourages watching a related video for further insights.

How to Develop Executive Presence and Command the Room With Confidence Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 how to develop executive presence and command the room at work in this video what I want to share with you are five very practical steps on how you can develop executive presence no matter what your position is or your job title is in your company but first let us talk a little bit about executive presence right this term is being thrown around a lot right we hear it on the internet we hear it on certain blogs we hear it inside of our heads as well as feeling the pressure to develop more of that executive presence but what is exactly is executive presence right and so I
• 00:30 - 01:00 want to give this distinction when we talk about executive presence what we're referring to are a set of qualities right a set of qualities that you have that signal that signals or illustrates very clearly to other people that you are in charge or at least that you deserve to be in charge right that is the distinction of what executive presence means when it comes to having executive presence there are two components there's the outer components of executive presence what people see
• 01:00 - 01:30 and then there is the inner component of executive presence it's the presence that people can feel right so let's talk about the outer component when it comes to the outer components of achieving those qualities of presence what we're referring to is the action communication and impression right so action let's talk about action action is how you act it is how you behave what you choose to do the decisions you choose to make that is action when it comes to communication
• 01:30 - 02:00 it's what you say how you say it right how persuasive are you and then finally when it comes to impression I'm referring to your Poise your posture your appearance those things factor into your executive presence and those make up the outer components now let's talk about the inner components of building executive presence the inner components include things like confidence credibility and control right so when I'm referring to control I'm talking about self-control right whereas the
• 02:00 - 02:30 outer component of communications is interpersonal skills self-control which is the inner component is intrapersonal skills it's the skills of managing yourself managing your emotions managing your attitudes managing your beliefs and your philosophies your personal philosophies right so those are the two components when it comes to building your executive presence you see when we think of great leaders right we automatically associate somebody with humble confidence natural confidence but also with the ability to commun unate a
• 02:30 - 03:00 very deep level of knowledge in a way that is comes across very understandable and clear right so when it comes to developing your executive presence it's about being able to communicate and go seven layers deep with your domains of knowledge and being able to get your point across in a way that is persuasive right in a way that is clearly understandable and and and also more importantly in a way that creates Buy in it gets Buy in from people for your ideas and for selling what you want to sell right so that is the essence of how
• 03:00 - 03:30 do we achieve and build personal executive presence so here are five practical steps on how you can develop your executive presence and by the way I am starting with and ending with the most important so step number one and step number five are the most important step so make sure you watch Until the End okay so step number one practical step number one is to communicate with authority this is about mastering your communication skills it's about being able to speak to command the room speak to be able to give Insight speak to be able to persuade and to shift their
• 03:30 - 04:00 beliefs but also speak to be able to connect with your audience right this is about how do you create great content it's about how do you bring presence into the room command the room with what you say when you master your communication skills that's what allows you the fluidity and the ability to command the room so I encourage you first and foremost to watch my video that I created before right here it's on this card you'll see a link to my video right here on how to speak in intelligently in the workplace and then
• 04:00 - 04:30 once you are ready to master your communication skill sets this is where I can help you I'm going to help you to master your communication skills I'm going to help you to create insightful content I'm going to help you to deliver that content very effectively and very clearly and succinctly and I'm also going to help you with the Poise the posture what to wear how to show up how do you develop that presence if you're ready to take your Communications to the next level and develop that executive presence then I invite you to book a
• 04:30 - 05:00 call with me right below this video the very first link in the description of the video there is a link to book a call with me and you'll be speaking with me or a member of my team and this is where you can explore is it the right fit for us to work together to help you to take your Communications and your presence to the next level so that you can take your career to the next level this is for you only if you're serious of becoming an executive in your company of becoming a leader in your industry if you're serious about that and you're ready to have the help to do so
• 05:00 - 05:30 this is not for you if you're at the beginning of your career or if you're still a student or if you're a recent graduate it's not for you if you are at the beginning stages of your career so if you're serious and you ready to receive the help to do so then I'll look forward to see you on the inside step number two is to connect to build trust right trust is a very foundational piece when they trust you they open up to you when you trust them you open up to them right it is a very reciprocal nature trust is earned trust is built but trust is earned with in the first few moments
• 05:30 - 06:00 of them meeting you and you meeting them so it's very important when you connect you are connecting to build build trust so you're setting the intention one of the best ways to build trust one of the best ways to connect with an individual to build trust is to ensure that you really connect with them on first of all a face-to-face level what I mean by that is of course to have eye contact right often times when I meet with individuals when I meet with professionals they have difficulty looking into someone else El's eye when they are talking
• 06:00 - 06:30 especially when they want to share ideas when they want to get buy into Buy in from their ideas they have a hard time looking at somebody and it feels very uncomfortable and this is where it is really important that you connect with an individual they want to know that you're serious they want to know that you're talking to them they want to know that this is a dialogue this is a discussion and that you are comfortable and that you see them as your equal as a colleague as a peer right they want to know that you are there for them they want to know that you're actually present and so when you don't speak with
• 06:30 - 07:00 eye contact it actually feels like there's a lack of connection it feels therefore immediately that there's a lack of trust and a lack of dis a lack of honesty because one of the telltale signs of dishonesty is not being able to look someone else's in the eye especially when you're sharing recommendations or something as important as a mission a mission driven idea right so when you are and this is also the same when you are presenting when you are preparing a presentation this is your opportunity to lose script
• 07:00 - 07:30 right and I get it sometimes for some of you who are watching this right now you need to write everything out how many of you can relate to that comment below are you the kind of person who needs to write out the entire script for your presentation right from Hello all the way to thank you for being here are you the person who needs to write all the Talking Points who needs to have the Q cards in front of you or who needs to read from the podium from papers is that you so comment below I want to hear from you right so if that is you it is very difficult to connect to build trust so lose the script lose the notes and to
• 07:30 - 08:00 speak from the heart speak from the truth from the heart in connection with somebody else so if you want to learn a little bit more how to do that I've created a video on how to build rapport with your audience just watch that video right here there's going to be a link link to that video on how to build rapport right and that will give you some tips and advice on how you can connect with your audience step number three step number three is conduct through Poise so conduct is how you act conduct yourself how you present
• 08:00 - 08:30 yourself what you say and how you say it that's all conducting right so conducting through Poise what is Poise Poise is having composure and presence of mind so when I talk about composure I'm really referring to how do you project natural self-confidence and how do you project gravitas project gravitas and that is and how you act because that's conducting right and so you are having composure and you're having presence of mind having presence of Mind means that you have awareness of what going on around you it means that you
• 08:30 - 09:00 have the presence to know what is working what is not working in the moment you have the presence to be able to flow to be able to Pivot and to be able to sense from your audience what they are sensing from you having presence of Mind means also understanding how exactly are you reacting to other people how are you perceiving other people it's having that level of self-awareness right so when you conduct through Poise this will help you to build your executive presence because you are aware Ware of yourself
• 09:00 - 09:30 your strengths what you are putting out there right your facial expressions your projections your beliefs the way you act the your presence in other people you are completely aware of that when you are conducting through Poise it's building your executive presence also because you are continuously taking feedback you are flowing you're able to adopt you're able to adjust based on realtime feedback and that is the mark of a leader to be able to lead and Inspire based on what you see based on your true awareness Ness of what's
• 09:30 - 10:00 happening around you step number four is to create a polished image right let's face it we live in a very fast-paced World especially in your industry and some of you may be in industries that are super fast-paced like tech tech industries it right even Healthcare that's a very fast moving industry and when you are in this in a fast-paced world which we all are because a lot of it is online and things online right are moving are always constantly changing are always constantly evolving and
• 10:00 - 10:30 because we're in such a fast-paced world we need to make decisions really quickly especially decisions about other people which is why whenever you meet someone for the first time in that first split split second your colleagues are going to be making judgments about you they're going to be making snap judgments and conclusions about your likeability about your honesty your level of competence your morality right and your friendliness and trustworthiness and these judgments are made very quickly because it is so fast fpce and people
• 10:30 - 11:00 need to adopt to make decisions very quickly to see whether or not they you deserve to Merit their attention or whether or not you have merited their respect or merited their their listening their ear towards you so if you want to build your executive presence you got to create a polished image this is about your appearance on the outside and know I am not talking about hair and makeup I'm not talking about wearing mini skirts or I'm not talking about right necessarily the ex act fashion statement
• 11:00 - 11:30 that you're trying to make I'm not talking about that it's more than just that it is about how do you create an image that exudes confidence it's about how do you create an image where you give people the rest assurance that you know what you're talking about that you understand the context of the environment you're in and it's not about you want to fit in exactly like them but that you have that natural confidence so you see this is not a polished image has nothing to do with physical
• 11:30 - 12:00 attractiveness and that's what we normally think about when we think about appearance it's not about attractiveness in terms of what you were born with physical qualities you were born with or what you do with your physical qualities like putting hair you know doing your hair and makeup it's not about that it is about what you do with what you have and how you optimize it so if you want to learn more about that I have created a video on how you can always look confident and Polished right if you want to see that video just click the link right here on the screen and it'll take you to the video my video on how to
• 12:00 - 12:30 always look confident and Polished step number five and remember I said that this number five and number one were the most important and by the way if you resonate with what I'm saying if you enjoyed this video give me a thumbs up and remember to subscribe to my channel ring that Bell as well the Bell below this video so that you can be notified every time I release a new video every single week twice a week right so step number five on building executive presence is to conceive an executive IDE identity you conceive it what you will
• 12:30 - 13:00 imagine what you will design yourself to become who are you going to become right you got to believe first of all that you can have executive presence you got to believe first of all that you can have that executive identity because if you do not believe that if your personal philosophy if your expectations if your identity your own self-identity is different from executive presence if you don't believe that you can achieve it then you will not become that which you
• 13:00 - 13:30 do not believe you can do because we achieve that which we believe and not beyond that it's kind of like having standards right we don't achieve our wildest dreams we aieve our lowest standards so what is it that you choose to believe what is the identity you want to create for yourself up until now most people are living life by default the identity they've created for themselves they' have allowed others to shape that identity they've allowed their past to be chosen for them for many things and being unaware of what their values are
• 13:30 - 14:00 this is your opportunity to instead of living life by Design instead of living life by default that you are living life by design that you are becoming the person you want to become by Design and not by default so conceive your executive identity who are you going to become what does that look like how are you going to show up what is your presence how are you going to speak what's going to sound like how are people going to perceive you how are you going to perceive yourself so conceive your executive
• 14:00 - 14:30 identity now comment below what are the steps you're going to take in the next month how are you going to build that executive identity how are you going to build that executive presence which one is the most important one that you're going to work on you got to start somewhere I look forward to hanging out with you again in my next video