Executive Presence with The Commonwealth Institute

Last week, I was thrilled to virtually facilitate a session on executive presence for an amazing group of women leaders participating in The Commonwealth Institute’s Strategies for Success program.

I must say, I generally prefer doing this work live, but I am becoming accustomed to the virtual world and to how to balance psychological safety and connection, ensuring participants get full value out of the program.  I was particularly struck by this group.  They all came into the session fully committed to engaging and learning. Maybe this is, in part, because I made a request before we began and asked the group to please give themselves the gift of these three hours by devoting their full attention to being present.  Because, as I like to say, how you do something is how you do everything. They could have opted out, or multi-tasked away and ignored me.  But they did not, and the richness of connection was evident when the sharing began and we were able to dive deeply into the work with conviction.

When I speak about executive presence, I like to drop the “executive” piece and just discuss “presence.”  Presence is an energy and we are, by nature, energetic beings.  Just as the ocean’s tides ebb and flow with energy, we too, being 70% water, are influenced by an invisible yet ever-present energy.  Presence has nothing to do with our title or rank in a company; instead, it has everything to do with who we are as HUMAN BEINGS.  The process of getting people to experience this reality is one of being in the inquiry of our thoughts and emotions.  This is how we arrive at our current state of reality. We as humans have so much power to shift our focus and mindset to create whatever reality we choose to create.

Thus, the bottom line about presence is being aware of who we choose to be moment to moment based on our current experiences. This is the work that truly lights me up because the people and organizations we work with get to a place of conscious responsible leadership that STICKS! It is all about becoming more self-aware.

This work of delving into self-awareness is an iterative and active process. It is all about progress and not perfection. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to connect on our customized programs and coaching and to hear about the creative ways we are supporting your growth of being human!

-  Kip Hollister