Look, I know you’re busy – and it can sometimes be overwhelming to think about where you’re at today in your professional journey, and where you’d like to go. As you evaluate that, there are so many different skills that may be thrown at you, saying hey, this is what you need to focus on.
You should be upskilling this, you should be refining this. And again, can be overwhelming. And you might want to say, okay, I’ve got to prioritize, and I get it. What sometimes I will hear people say is, well, if I’m going to prioritize, I’m not going to look at executive presence right now, because really, executive presence is only for the most senior leaders.
I’m not ready to go into the C-suite, or maybe you’re not even ready to go into the level just below that, in a senior leadership team role. So again, this belief that I don’t need to have strong executive presence because I’m not currently at the highest level of senior leadership – that is in fact such a myth.
It is such a myth. So as you look at where you want to continue to grow, if you want to advance, then you must be looking at soft skill enhancement.
It is an absolute must. Executive presence should be that container that holds the most valuable soft skills that you should want to grow in and really refine and become advanced at, if you’re serious about progressing and advancing on that professional climb. Now, there are a variety of skills that fall within executive presence. So I’ll give you a little bit of a short step, if you will – if you have to choose one, I am going to tell you to enhance your communication skills.
Your communication is what people experience so quickly with you as an individual. Whether it’s through your written communication, how you’re interacting one-on-one, or how you’re speaking to a group within a small team meeting, a small group, or even presenting in front of a large group. As you think about where you want to go, whether that’s tomorrow or in five years, what I really want you to take a look at is the container of skills within executive presence that are not reserved for those already in senior leadership.
Executive presence is what is going to help separate the high performers from the high-potential leaders. So if you are interested in either becoming a first-time leader or growing in your leadership abilities and your leadership rank, then absolutely, executive presence is going to help you stand out above those that are just high performers. So take a look at that container of executive presence, hone in on and start on your communication, and see where that takes you next!