Why "Executive Presence" Is Broken and the Leadership Identity Framework That Replaces It

"Executive presence" is one of the most repeated, and most problematic, phrases in leadership. After ten years and hundreds of clients, Jill Griffin has stopped using it and built something better.

The Leadership Identity Framework is Jill's approach to what EP was trying to measure, done right. In this episode, she's breaking down one of its core pillars and why it changes how you lead.

In this episode:

• Why "executive presence" measures the wrong things
• What leadership identity is and how Jill developed it
• How to build presence rooted in who you actually are

Transcript

Why Executive Presence Feels Toxic

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi there. I'm Jill Griffin. I'm the host of the Career Refresh. And today we're talking about executive presence because the term is more and more becoming dated the way we've defined it. And depending on where you work, the culture and how it's used, it kind of sometimes is a little bit toxic too. It because it becomes a measure that aligns with the status quo that we're all fitting into a mold versus, and a lot of it has to do with like visual appearance, which means it's ageist, sexist, racist, ableist. And like, can we just stop with that and really start thinking about how do we think about executive presence? Or what I'll challenge you on to a new definition, and what I really think of is about our leadership identity. And how do we want to show up as individuals and what are we expecting from others? And it's not about the clothes we wear, the quote, polish, the gravitas, any of those old phrases that we use, we really want to be pausing and rethinking that. So let's dig in. What I'm seeing is senior leaders are working on that presence. They want to create visibility, they want to create influence, they want to create impact within their organizations. But if you're working from a definition or within an organization that has a definition that was never built for you, we want to fix that. And that type of change comes from us first. We have to start naming it, claiming it, and making it and aiming it, right? And making it actually different than what we're saying. So it starts with who you are, not who the proverbial they think you should be.

From Optics To Leadership Identity

SPEAKER_00 1:45

So breaking it down. First, the traditional model of executive presence was really built on a narrow lens, one that rewards conformity versus a um a wide array of diversity. And I mean everything from representative diversity to diversity of thought to uh diversity of teams, innovation, all of that bringing in. It tends to be very conservative. It tends to have that, again, that very, very narrow, it's this or it's not. Um, and historically, it has been basically built on white or Caucasian and also very male, because think about it, for years, that was who dominated the workplace. And when we make room at the table, it is never about excluding everyone. It's not that we don't want white males at the table. Of course we want them at the table, but we want room for everyone at the table. And we want to be thinking about it. That's not, again, representative executive presence, but more about who we're being as leaders. So where the, I'm gonna say the current, hopefully dated, but not yet in all organizations, is based on optics, how you dress, how you sound, how you carry yourself in a room. The problem is this optic first definition asks you to perform rather than lead. And that performance is exhausting. It's also not scalable. So the definition that I work from from executive presence is how do you effectively anticipate, communicate, and activate. And the energy that you bring into the room, the clarity you create, the people you move forward towards results and impact, that's where we want to go, not about how you dress, how you sound, right? So hear me, when I say communication, I don't mean how you sound, I mean the words that you're using. That's where we want to go. So I've built a definition that I would encourage you to use and start using

Anticipate With Strategy And Mindset

SPEAKER_00 3:40

in your conversations. And it's really built for the complexity of leadership today. So anticipate first. It's the strategic thinking, right? It's it's strategic thinking meeting emotional intelligence. Leaders with a strong executive presence are able to read the room. They've done their work, they've thought through their mind of how they want to show up in a meeting, as much as preparing. Like, do you know your facts and figures? Do you know the data that you need to know to go into this conversation? You're anticipating the challenge, you're anticipating reactions. You're maybe doing some role play in your head of the various reactions that you think someone or a team might have. Doesn't mean you're going to nail every of them, all of them, but you're going to think through. This is the opportunity so that you show up and you're preparing for this. The energy and tone you set is all happening before you say a word. Anxiety is contagious. Fear is contagious. So steadiness, anticipating what it means is also preparing your mindset, not just your talking points. Who do you need to be in this room? Who do you need to show up as? What does your team need? What do your peers need? Really thinking through that so you can decide ahead of time how you're going to show up. Psychologist Sean Anchor suggests that operating from a positive mental state, when we do this meaningful, it increases both our productivity and our creative problem solving. So it is definitely worth looking up his work on the happiness advantage if you're not familiar with it. But if you're coming through and you're thinking about how you're going into this, thinking through positively is going to help you anticipate the problems and also then run through. Well, I'm going to be positive, but what if the person I'm meeting with isn't, or they, what are the concerns or the obstacles they're going to have? And you're thinking that they're. That's what we mean by anticipating the energy and coming at it from a positive mental state, meaning you can handle what they're going to throw at you. The

Communicate With Words And Listening

SPEAKER_00 5:50

second part is communicate. This is the art of connection. This is building rich relationships. This lives in how you speak, absolutely, but we're not talking about the tone. It's the words you're choosing to use, the connection, the warmth you're making, or the power or the impact that you're choosing to make with the words you choose. It's also how you listen, how you actively listen, how you're repeating back to someone, letting them know that you're validating, acknowledging what you're saying. Validating and acknowledged is not agreement. It's validating, I understand why that's a concern for you. It's acknowledging, I heard you say this. It's saying that back to them so people know that they're really heard. That's active listening. That's where you start to create the alignment. Strong communicators ask, well, what does this person need to hear right now? That's not gaming the system. It's not just giving fluff or saying what you think they need to hear. It's actually saying, you know what, right now, are they concerned about the challenge? Are they concerned about the timing? Are they concerned about the workload or the staff? What do they need to hear right now so we can communicate effectively and maybe start to alleviate some of that concern? The way you communicate also creates space for others to contribute. You're building trust in the process. It's not monopolizing the whole conversation. This effective communication really includes negotiation, the process and the goal and the partnership. It's how do we move forward together? It's not about creating a win that only involves you. One of my mentors very early on said to me, Jill, if the win revolves around you getting everything you want, and therefore the person you're negotiating with getting none of what they want or not that much, no one's gonna want to do business with you if it means that you have to win and therefore they have to lose. You want to create the shared partnership. You want to create situations where your communication is leaving space for them to communicate effectively, and then also allowing for a partnership and a process that grows over time and that we're working collaboratively to find a solution. That's communicate.

Activate Teams Without Bottlenecks

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Last area is activate. This is where the leadership really happens. As I've said before, there's an expression that being a leader is not the one in charge, is being responsible for people in your charge. How do you move the obstacles? How do you create capacity for your team? How do you help them move that mountain or scale the mountain that's in front of them? That's the work you're doing as a leader. Your job is to help people get results. So when you step back from the doing and being in the weeds and step into activating, you're creating the vision, you're creating the clarity, you're building the trust, you're gaining momentum. You start to unlock the kind of scale and growth that's kind of impossible to achieve alone. So what I'm also seeing on job interviews is this is an area where leaders often fail because they'll say things like, I led the team or I directed the team. Great, but that team that you led or directed is staying at the old job. They're not all coming with you. So what I need to hear from you is how you came up with the vision, you came up with the strategy, and how you then conveyed that to the team, supported them, but showing them that the team actually did the works, that you're not in the weeds because, again, the team isn't coming with you. We need to know that you could activate a team, show them what is done look like, what is that end result I'm expecting from you, but let them use their diversity of thought, their innovation, right? There, that they get to come forward with an array of diverse ideas that tackle the problem. Because if we're only relying on you, you've shown me where the bottleneck is in the team. Your job as a leader is to activate them. So asking yourself questions if we take it back into the day-to-day work and not in a job interview, asking yourself questions like, you know what, how can I help my team see the bigger picture? What strengths can I amplify? Who has that special skill that I actually need to coach them on versus telling them what to do? Again, activating, not necessarily doing. And what becomes possible when I lead instead of execute? Listen, I know in an ideal world, we have to be what one of my mentors used to call spaceships and lawnmowers. We need to think big and occasionally we need to go into the weeds. I understand that happens. But if you're always in those weeds, I'm gonna guess that you're not activating your team, you're taking away their agency, you're giving learned helplessness because at a certain point they're gonna be like, well, I don't really need to lean in here because Jill's just gonna do it anyway, or I'm gonna do all this work and then Jill's gonna take it from here. No one wants to work in an environment like that. So what you need to do again is tell them what done looks like, let them know what success looks like, let them know what number they need to hit or what the impact is or what the customer surprise and delight looks like, and then challenge them to come up with the ideas, the how in between. That's what you're doing, and that's how you're activating. This is where I see what I would say is executive

Observe Role Models And Close Gaps

SPEAKER_00 11:05

presence in motion. Look, I want you to start by observing people you respect, whether they're real people in your life, whether they're in a book, or whether they're a fictional character you've seen in a movie, I want you to notice what draws them, what draws you in, and what is it about their way of leading that your attractiveness? Is it their calm? Is it their strategic thinking? Is it their humor, their clarity, their directness? Ask yourself, what are those qualities so that you can start thinking intentionally? And if you know that's the end result, then you can look at yourself and say, where am I now? Where do I need to go? How do I close the gap? If I need to create clarity, what do I need to do to close the gap? And just as important, what will widen that gap? Because if you understand what you shouldn't be doing, is it just as important as understanding when you're tired and had a long day what you should be doing? Widening that gap is an important strategy to tap into. Executive presence is a skill. It is learnable, it is refinable, and it is yours to create. And when you lead from a place of authentic strength, your presence just doesn't, it's not just about filling the room, it's about the impact

Your New Definition And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 12:20

and activation and movement of the room. All right, friends, I want to hear from you. You know I do. Tell me how you're thinking about executive presence. How is it filling your leadership identity and who you want to be in a leader in this marketplace and the next three and six months? Email me at hello at JillGriffinCoaching.com and really think through. If you start hearing people use executive presence and it's only about gravitas and command of the room, I'm gonna call on you to tell them that no, it is about how you anticipate, communicate, and activate. That's what we want to be talking about around leaders and executive presence. Have a great week. And remember, always, always, always be kind. All right, I'll see you soon.