That dialogue must be compelling wherever it occurs: email, conference call, meeting, presentation, speech, webcast, or videoconference.
I have over twenty years’ experience helping executives create compelling dialogues with readers and listeners.
Executive Presence
Presence: dynamic creativity
We know it when we see it, but we struggle to define it. One of the great ironies of my work as a communications consultant is that I spend my time coaching people in how to achieve something that can’t be communicated in words.
Leaders work with me to explore ways to have more and better impact on their organizations. My message is twofold:
- Presence is a dynamic interaction, not a static performance. If it were a part of speech it would have to be a verb, not a noun.
- Presence is creative: it galvanizes.
In order to achieve this kind of dynamic, creative presence, leaders need to:
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Write and speak powerfully
so that what emerges is the product of thought rather than the process of thinking. I call this presence of mind.
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Listen superbly
so that when they respond, they’re able to combine their ideas with the ideas of others in an extraordinary act of real-time synthesis. I call this presence of ear.
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Develop a physically expressive style
so that they reveal commitment: commitment to their ideas and commitment to their listeners. Many call this physical presence. I call it authenticity.