When I talk about leadership “presence,” I am referring to a personal manner or style that commands respect and influences thinking, decision-making, and action. Over the past 19 years, I’ve worked with thousands of leaders (and followers) who have helped me define what leadership presence is. I’ve boiled it down to the following three broad characteristics:
Character You know when someone has it. It’s a sense of rock-solidness; of being grounded no matter what happens. It’s a rare mix of competence and humility, fearlessness and caution, and wisdom and a genuine curiosity about different points of view. It is not boastful, imposing, or anxious. Instead, it’s a state of being that appeals to others, draws them in like a magnet, and leaves them eager to know what you will do and say next.
Insight In his book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of Anxiety, Edwin Friedman says that “in any situation, the person who can most accurately describe reality without laying blame will emerge as the leader, whether designated or not.” There are two important leadership skills embedded in Friedman’s description. The first one is the courage and ability to speak the truth as most people see it. The second is to do it in a way that neither judges or blames others. Stated another way, it’s the ability to define a problem without creating the kind of emotional tension that might get in the way of solving it.
Optimism What the optimistic leader provides is a strong vision and belief in a different and better future. The optimism comes from an internal belief in the possibilities and the confidence that comes with a personal track record of achieving previous goals. It’s a can-do attitude that trusts the power of the team, organization, or community to do something big together.
We are noticing more and more that the organizations we work with want to hire people with leadership presence into all levels of their organizations – that personal leadership is no longer a professional quality reserved for the executive suite. The questions I would challenge you with are these: “How deep is the leadership presence in your organization?” “What difference would it make if personal leadership was the most obvious quality in your workforce?”
