Do You Look the Part of a Leader?

Succeeding as a leader requires hard work, intelligence, determination, and luck. While those may be important, it turns out they may not even approach the impact of one other key dimension: executive presence.

In a recent study conducted by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and a team of researchers at the Center for Talent Innovation, the senior leaders surveyed listed executive presence — being perceived as leadership material — as the essential factor in determining who gets ahead in an organization.

According to a summary by David Burkus for smartblogs.com, the study surveyed 18 focus groups, 4,000 college-degree professionals, 50 personal interviews and 268 senior-level executives and concluded that leadership positions are most often given to those who look the part. Attributes such as hard work and past performance are important, but the study’s biggest finding was that executive presence is a requirement for top leadership positions.

But what exactly is executive presence?

Hewlett and her team deconstructed executive presence by defining the three components that help a leader look the part:

Communication. Excellent speaking skills, active listening and assertiveness are required skills for leaders. In addition to interpersonal communication, leaders need the ability to read an audience or situation and craft the appropriate response. Perhaps that’s why 28% of senior executives agreed that communication predicts your leadership potential.

Appearance. Looking polished and put together was found to be an important element of presence. While only 5% of senior leaders considered it to be a key factor, every leader surveyed recognized appearance for its potential to derail high-potential talent.

Gravitas. Leaders with executive presence must project confidence. In high-pressure situations, members look to their leader for confident, decisive action. Keeping one’s poise under stress is vital for those in senior leadership, which is why two-thirds of the leaders surveyed agreed that gravitas was the core characteristic of executive presence.

Hewlett notes that the study’s findings have some interesting implications for developing women and multicultural professionals into senior leaders. While the traditional explanations like work/life balance or a lack of available high-level mentors were seen as reasons for the talent gap among these potential leaders, the survey also found that the impact of executive presence may play a role as well.

Women and multicultural professionals felt they were held to a stricter standard and tended to feel a higher intrinsic tension between remaining true to oneself and assimilating with the dominant organizational culture. Over 80% of women and people of color said they were unclear as to how to act on feedback about their own executive presence. In addition, 56% of people of color felt they were held to a stricter code of executive presence than the average organizational member.

Potential leaders should examine this study’s implications for their own development. Ask yourself: How well are you demonstrating poise under pressure? Is your appearance polished and put together? Can you effectively read an audience and communicate your ideas?

Being Digitally Approachable in Your Job Search

 Job searches rely on making lots of great first impressions. And once upon a time you could control your first impressions, by actually being there when they happened. It may surprise you to learn that, a long, long time ago (back when I was 40), humans introduced themselves to one another in person. Face to face, not on Facebook or Facetime.

Those days are long gone.

Today, job seekers make most of their first impressions online. You can’t get through a dinner out with friends without someone pulling out a smart phone to look something up. When I recommend a restaurant, or movie, or a beer, where do you go to check it out? You go online. In the office, when you mention you are looking for a solution to an IT problem, and I recommend my IT vendor, what do you do? Do you leap to the phone to call them … or do you check them out online first?

When you Google your own name, what do you see? There is your first impression. Google is the new business card.

Every time someone refers a candidate to me, I check them out online. If they are on the hunt for their next position, I assume they paid some attention to their digital first impression. And I’m often disappointed.

If you are a business professional about my age, and your LinkedIn profile is bare bones, you are sending the message that you are behind the curve with technology. It is assumed that you either don’t understand it, or perhaps you are afraid of it. Like it or not, that’s your first impression, and it is darn hard to shake. The fact that you have not yet found social media relevant to your work, or that you find it a silly waste of time only confirms the suspicion.  You may think that not having a robust online profile confirms that you are a mature, secure, serious professional who has no time to waste on YouTwitFace. But among people who use Google to form a first impression, rest assured, that’s not what they think.

Conversely, if you are an early career business professional, and your LinkedIn profile is bare bones, it is assumed that you know your way around social networks because you are young, so the absence of a professional profile means you are either lazy or perhaps you just don’t understand how things work in the real world. Not good.

So if your current job is quite secure, and if you have no interest in being contacted about a new job, then by all means, feel free to remain digitally anonymous. Put out a big old “Beware of Dog” sign online. No problemo.

But if you are even thinking of making a first impression with someone who is in a position to help you, like an HR professional, or a headhunter, or someone who is well networked … well then, you would be wise to make yourself more digitally approachable.

Speak Up to Appear More Competent

When it comes to business meetings, I’ve always believed the old proverb “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt.” But a new study is making me question that wisdom.

According to a study by Berkeley researchers Cameron Anderson and Gavin Kilduff, people who speak up and act dominant are perceived by others as being competent — even if they aren’t. People make judgments about you based on their perceptions and observations, and one way to alter their perceptions is to let your opinions be heard.

Joel Garfinkle, reporting on the research for Smartblogs.com, notes that speaking up is no substitute for true competence. “You can “fake it ’til you make it,” but if you lack the skills and traits needed to perform at your job, people will notice. That said, if you really are competent, speaking up will help everyone else see you as the valuable employee you are.”

Unfortunately, for many, speaking up isn’t easy. So here are a few tips to help you speak up:

1. Realize you don’t need to have the perfect solution. Your idea doesn’t have to be the best one. You don’t even need to be right. You just need to be heard. As Julie Daum of Spencer Stuart says, “People write off people who don’t speak. If you don’t take up a little bit of airtime, people will assume you have nothing to contribute.”
2. Don’t over think what you’re going to say. Many times, people try to refine their statements in their heads and end up missing the chance to say what they wanted to say. Don’t worry about making it perfect; just say it.
3. You don’t have to be first. Just because someone else has already expressed the same idea doesn’t mean you can’t speak up. If a co-worker beats you to the punch, you can still voice your support for the idea. This can even give you an easy opening: “I agree with Jim because …” Once you have the floor, elaborate and share your personal insights.
4. Speak up when you disagree. It’s even more important to speak up at work when your opinion differs from the majority. Conflicting viewpoints add depth to a discussion and help spark new and better ideas that take all sides of the issue into consideration.

Meetings and conference calls provide the perfect opportunity to start speaking up at work. You have expertise on topics related to your job, and it is critical that you share them whenever the opportunity arises. Make it a point to speak up at least once during each meeting. Not only will it make you appear more competent, it will get easier the more often you do it. And best of all, your confidence will grow.

Prepping for Your Annual Performance Review

Annual performance reviews are nerve wracking experiences.

Eilene Zimmerman, writing for The New York Times, answers some common questions about how to handle the meeting:

Q. How should I prepare for this meeting?

A. Start by making a list of your responsibilities at work and writing your own performance review in each of those areas. Thinking through how you’ve done will prevent you from overreacting to feedback because you will know what to expect.

Annual reviews give you the chance to discuss and formulate goals for the next year. Before the meeting, write down the goals you envision for yourself. As you think about your work over the last year, try to anticipate anything negative that may come up in the review. Prepare for it by looking over old notes and e-mails to remember specific situations and your actions and behavior at the time. Good preparation will reduce anxiety.

Women: How we could be Accidentally Stunting our Career Growth

A fascinating study by Europe’s Institute of Leadership and Management examined the difference in confidence levels between working men and women. The study showed that men exhibit much higher levels of self-confidence across all age groups, with lower levels of self-doubt. These higher confidence levels could be contributing to more men being promoted, over women of the same skill. So how do we women figure out how to change this pattern? Women leadership experts Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt have classified the problem into 4 main areas:

1. “Being overly modest.” – Women tend to hope their achievements will show themselves, while men are often faster to publicly showcase their success.
2. “Not asking.” – If you don’t ask for the promotion, you won’t get it. Women often fail to show their interest and fight for why they’re the right fit.
3. “Blending in.” – Women often take action (or lack of action) to avoid standing out in the crowd. But if you just stand back, you’ll miss out on many opportunities.
4. “Remaining silent.” – Speak up in meetings, even if it’s overwhelming with three people talking at once. You won’t get anywhere by keeping your ideas to yourself.

Using Your Natural Gifts to your Advantage

We are all unique. We each have special talents and skills others do not have. And, people always say that you should focus your job search on what you really want. So how do you figure out what you actually want? An article by professional coach Mary Ellen Sailer will help you determine your natural gifts; after you determine them, look for jobs where you can use those gifts to make a real impact. Mary Ellen encourages us to consider 8 questions.

Here are four great ones:

• “What do I naturally, easily, and effortlessly do when no one is looking?”
• “What about me inspires others, even though it is easy for me?”
• “What about me makes people jealous?”
• “What about me gives me guilty pleasure?”

Ways to Get Online Recommendations

Want a way to boost your online credibility?  How can you make your Linkedin profile more impressive without adding content?  Ask for recommendations! If you want to, but don’t know how to request them, you’re in luck… John Sumser  gives us 10 tips for how to ask for and get great recommendations you’ll be proud to show on your profile.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Ask people who truly know you – Preferably someone you’ve worked with; someone who knows you personally instead of only online.
• Write one for someone else first – Often, they will return the favor and post one for you (without you even having to ask).
• Offer a sample of the type of recommendation you would like – Especially when people are busy, they may gladly welcome the suggestion.
• If you don’t like it, don’t post it – You get to approve (or reject) it before it goes public, so feel free to ask for revisions from the writer.