Reveal the Heart of Your Leadership Presence

What is Leadership Presence?

Having a presence is so important in life, and when you are a leader, it becomes even more essential. Your presence, as a leadership presence, is what others look up to. They want you to lead by being strong and showing that you know what to do.

So, to convey this strong, external presence, you're often given advice on how to project it outwardly—a powerful and confident voice, open body language, a firm handshake, and steady eye contact. You're told to connect to your emotional intelligence, recognize and acknowledge how others perceive you, and show that you understand their position but always know how to return to your own.

But most of what's taught about leadership presence, or executive presence, focuses on external appearances—how others perceive you. It barely scratches the surface of understanding who you are or who you are becoming within your own presence as a leader.

And yet, we're often told that's what presence as a leader is—focusing on how we present ourselves outwardly and cultivating our leadership or executive presence to match certain expectations from others. 

The Conventional View of Leadership Presence

Much of the conventional teaching around leadership presence centers on cultivating outward behaviors that project confidence and authority. Leaders are encouraged to adopt a powerful stance, project their voices, and show confident, open body language.

We're also taught how to refine our communication skills in ways that affect the psyche of others—leaving a lasting impression by mastering that initial handshake, your tone of voice, and how you walk. All of these small signals, when combined— project authority.

These practices have value, as they are tools to guide us in communicating strength and shape how we are perceived. However, when we focus on perfecting these practices to elevate our presence, we eventually become disconnected from who we truly are.  

Now, our leadership presence becomes a performance. 

We put it on display instead of reflecting to others who we truly are. This approach can lead to the projection of a strong image, but it rarely, if ever, reveals the true essence of our presence—our leadership presence—which comes from an alignment of our inner self—our very soul—with how we want to show up in the world.

Your Leadership Presence Takes Shape

To truly shape your presence as a leader, you must go beyond what you have learned about leadership presence and integrate it in a way that feels right for you because, without the deeper integration, you risk showing only one side—one where you openly share with the world while the other remains hidden deep within you—which ultimately leads you to a sense of disconnection from who you truly are. For this reason, shaping your authentic presence begins with connecting to the heart of your leadership presence—opening the gateway beyond your rational mind's understanding of skills and practices—to your intuitive self or soul self for true alignment and integration.

Although strategies, modalities, and methods have given you a sense of security as they guide your leadership or executive presence, these familiar frameworks can also keep you within comfortable boundaries, limiting your ability to see beyond them.

They can distract you from reflecting on how these practices are impressed upon you and whether they align with your true self. Instead, the conventional approaches, with their often prescribed specific behaviors and traits, are deemed to represent the leadership or executive presence you should embody. However, when you embody these behaviors and traits without first reflecting on their alignment with your authentic self, you risk losing a sense of who you are. 

On the other hand, you may already be aware of this disconnection and have therefore turned to different modalities, such as emotional intelligence, to help you reflect on your practices. But now your own emotional intelligence is being viewed separately from your leadership presence—creating what I call "the great divide"—the increasing gap between the leadership presence you show the world and the one that truly reflects your inner leadership presence.

Why Inner Leadership Presence Matters

Now more than ever, we crave authenticity, not just from others—but especially from our leaders—who face the ongoing dilemma of wearing two faces.  

As a leader, you are continually faced with complex and ongoing challenges, especially when your team looks to you for reassurance that they are headed in the right direction. The expectation of you—and with all leaders—is that they always have the answers, which creates immense pressure, making it difficult to balance your own authenticity with the role you need to fulfill. As a result, your authenticity—the inner presence—gets pushed aside, with the performative aspect of leadership taking precedence.

To prevent the performative aspect of leadership from rearing its head or to keep it from creating a greater disconnection from yourself, it is essential to go beyond the usual reflection practices, where you revisit what happened and how it feels for you, where you ask yourself, "What did I feel?" and "How did I respond?" 

Instead, change your reflection practices by using insight-led reflection that goes deep into the heart of your leadership presence to uncover the patterns, truths, and subtle lessons hidden just beneath the surface. 

Here are some powerful insight-led questions to ask yourself when you sit in reflection on your path or the circumstance before you:

1. What does this mean for me?
2. How does this align with my values and vision?
3. How is this shaping me into who I am becoming?

These questions are meant to guide you beyond simple reflection. Instead, they support your connection with the essence of your leadership presence. By engaging deeply with these reflections, you can hear what your intuitive self—your inner voice—has to say. This process begins your journey of shifting from self-awareness to a deeper connection with your intuitive self—as soul awareness—where the insights you receive lead to integration throughout your entire being, elevating your leadership presence. 

These reflections are the starting point for you to access something deeper within—empowering you to move beyond behaviors and skills and into the heart of your leadership presence.

The Power of Reflective Leadership Presence 

Your journey to the heart of your leadership presence takes you from a state of self-awareness to a deeper connection with your intuitive self through soul awareness. It guides you to integrate your insight-led reflections for a more powerful leadership presence. 

This is not just about the power of reflection but your reflective power—an internal mirroring of your intuitive—or soul self—that allows you to truly see who you are. Here, the internal mirroring of your soul's reflections—the essence of who you are—is your starting point in accessing something deeper within you. 

Doing so empowers you to move beyond behaviors and skills to connect with the heart of your leadership presence. As you continue to cultivate and elevate your leadership presence with clarity and resilience and discover a new kind of confidence—you create a ripple effect that inspires everyone you lead.