Category: Leadership Presence

Win A Yes! For The Plan

Posted on by Karen Moyse in Leadership Presence

Many of you will be presenting your plans to the board very soon.   To get what you want, know that the strongest predictor of who gets investment is not the credentials or the content.  Research shows that the strongest predictors are the traits: confidence, comfort level and passionate enthusiasm.

If you would like to be coached to craft the message, build executive presence or confidence to get that plan through, do contact us.   And if you are presenting now, have a look at the executive presence & presentation tips we post.  They might get you over the line!

Harvard Professor Amy Cuddy reveals data from Lakshmi Balachandra in her Presence book.  Balachandra investigated the way entrepreneurs made 185 pitches to potential venture capital investors and the way investors responded. It tells us a lot about how to win business budgets internally and with other investors.

The other interesting part of this research is that the investors distrusted ‘slick’ communicators and were looking for authenticity.

The clear message is that it’s important to focus as much time on your own ‘professional presence’ as on your content.  But how many times do you find your teams pouring over the final slides at the last minute rather than working on how they communicate?  It’s like going into bat with your hand tied behind your back.

The data may sound puzzling but it makes a great deal of sense.  What the investors or your board are looking for is people who will deliver the plan.  If the person looks like they don’t genuinely believe in the proposition or isn’t genuinely confident, why should the investor believe?

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class communicator and leader. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays. We have six main areas of work: Time to Think™ coaching, executive presence, presenting and storytelling, tricky conversations, resilience and communicating purpose.

Truth To Power

Posted on by Karen Moyse in Leadership Presence, Leading Yourself

One of the 7 components of executive presence is for leaders to “speak truth to power”.  Can you make the points that the boss doesn’t want to hear, be the one who says something different from the herd and do you have the courage to do it?  The career impact and team results are huge if you do it well.

At the weekend, I read “Truth To Power. 7 Ways To Call Time on BS by Jess Phillips M.P”.  It’s an extraordinary, moving and a very practical how to book.  It knocked my socks off.

I now recommend it in my Time To Think™ coaching sessions and on our group Executive Presence & Presenting courses.  You might want to be effective and authentic in the office or you may be driving a big change.  It’s all super relevant.  Contact me if you want leadership coaching or to build your exec presence for presentations and meetings.

Here are the key chapter headlines to give you her overall top tips. You can buy the book on Amazon .

  • Not all heroes wear capes
  • Feel the fear
  • What’s the plan
  • Building momentum
  • The backlash
  • Attention seeker
  • Keep going and enjoy it

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class communicator and leader. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays. We have six main areas of work: Time to Think™ coaching, executive presence, presenting and storytelling, tricky conversations, resilience and communicating purpose.

Female Leader With Executive Presence

Women Leaders Mustn’t Sacrifice Authenticity

Posted on by Karen Moyse in Leadership Presence, Leading Others, Leading Yourself

Many women leaders don’t fulfil their leadership potential, thinking they must trade their authenticity for executive presence and gravitas. Not true. In fact, you’ll only be successful if you develop your EP in your own authentic way. 

Remember what got you here, won’t necessarily get you there. Get your Executive Presence right and you’ll secure those leadership promotions, be accepted by your peers, influence senior leaders and achieve great work with your team.

As a specialist coach in EP and gravitas , my starting point is your values. The global EP research provides us with a useful framework, but you need to do it your way.  It’s the same for men. And it’s about encouraging diversity.

Below are some common mistakes which will stop you igniting your own leadership talent.

If you would like leadership or EP coaching one to one or as a team, do get in contact soon for a chat. You can apply it to your daily leadership, meetings & presentations.   Here are common EP mistakes.

  1. Not developing your own executive presence – it’s the water leaders swim in every day. Fellow leaders expect it. 
  2. Thinking this is just about ego power plays – it’s about getting great work done, solving problems and developing others
  3. Behaving like an old-style male leader – that’s a disaster, find your own path to maximise the benefits of your diversity
  4. Not realising how good you are, imposter syndrome or holding back until you are perfect (you’ll wait forever!)
  5. Expecting the world to adapt to your expectations rather than working with what is real today – you’ll need clever strategies, understanding of human dynamics (yes, politics too), resilience and the ability to read your own organisation 

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class communicator and leader. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays. We have six main areas of work: Time to Think™ coaching, executive presence, presenting and storytelling, tricky conversations, resilience and communicating purpose.

Words That Weaken You

Posted on by Karen Moyse in Leadership Presence, Leading Others, Leading Yourself

There are words that sneak into your language and undermine your leadership and executive presence. You don’t need them, and you can get rid of them fast! 

They signal to your boss, your clients or your colleagues that you are not confident, like little negative beacons. On our executive presence and presentation courses, our clients identify them, ban them from the workshop and set forfeits for each other if they sneak back in. You can play this game with yourself or a friend. Have a go. It’ll drive you nuts!  

So, find out more about our executive presence and presentation courses and find below the most common words that weaken you.

Here are our top six undermining filler words. So small yet so significant. All you need to do is to catch yourself and stop saying them – your authority and presence will rise.  

Maybe

Perhaps

Sort of

Kind of

I’ll try

Sorry

(stop apologising for being in the room!)

KineticFuture can coach you to be a world-class leader and communicator. Coaching 1-2-1 and in groups. Clients include Abbvie, Amgen, Gilead, GSK, Novartis, Mars, Pladis, WPP and Barclays.

We have six main areas of work: Time to think coaching, executive presence, presenting and storytelling, tricky conversations, resilience and communicating purpose.

Contact us to find out more