939: INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP: Redefining Executive Presence to Diminish Bias

Shameless Leadership

Sara Dean

Education, Management, How To, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I’ve recently been in a few conversations about executive presence with colleagues and coaching clients. These conversations keep coming up because of major misconceptions about executive presence. When we think about executive presence, we tend to think about traits that allow for high control, high volume, and high power. However, executive presence is not about dominance or taking up more space than the people around you. It’s about far more. And, it’s quite nuanced. Unfortunately, many of us don’t have great examples of executive presence around us. This is why we don’t have a clear understanding of what it entails and how to develop it. Without strong mentors and role models, it’s hard to know what you’re even striving for, right?! In this episode, we will talk about what leaders are getting wrong about executive presence, the components of executive presence that matter most, and specific steps you can take to strengthen your executive presence. We will also discuss how executive presence has long been weaponized as a gatekeeping tool and to uphold bias. Please know executive presence is not just for executives! This is a way of carrying yourself in order to have a commanding presence that calls people in to work with you and listen to you. Your executive presence at any level, regardless of role or rank, can position you to build trusting relationships, enter into collaborative opportunities, and set yourself up for powerful next steps in your leadership legacy. Episode Highlights: How executive presence is learned and developed over time Why quiet confidence goes a long way Why executive presence requires balancing confidence with humility Why executive presence has nothing to do with being the loudest or most dominant in the room True executive presence is about how you make others feel How and why to leverage authenticity more than conformity in your leadership Recognizing the role of gatekeeping and bias in many current models of executive presence Links Mentioned: Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to shameless leadership. I'm your host, Sarah Dean. This show is for women, transgender people, non-binary folks, as well as allies, who are committed to advancing their leadership while also advancing the leadership of those around them. In each episode, we will offer practical tips, leadership strategies, and inspiring
0:21.9	stories to help you become a more confident, compassionate, and inclusive leader. The truth is,
0:27.5	you were born to lead. What might happen for you if you were to wholeheartedly embrace that
0:32.2	part of yourself? So let's start now, together. Hello, shameless leaders.
0:37.8	Today we're talking about executive presence.
0:41.1	And I'm excited to dig into this because I feel like there's some myths and some misnomer's and some
0:46.9	confusion.
0:48.3	And I think when we talk about executive presence, different people define it differently.
0:52.6	And I think that there's differences in between how genders define executive presence. different people define it differently. And I think that there's differences in
0:54.1	between how genders define executive presence. And so I think it would be helpful to take a little
1:00.8	bit of a closer look into what is executive presence, what is not executive presence, where do we go
1:07.3	wrong, making some assumptions about maybe what we think it should be.
1:11.9	We also are going to look at why it matters and what components matter most in terms of
1:19.0	advancing and developing your executive presence.
1:21.3	And we're going to talk specifically about how to build it.
1:24.1	So I'm excited to dig into this.
1:25.8	And I'll let you know in advance right from the
1:28.0	jump here. I'm feeling a little salty about this because I've had some clients come to me,
1:33.3	some coaching clients come to me recently and talk about how they've had leaders, specifically
1:39.7	male leaders, talk to them about male leaders talking to them as females, specifically about
1:45.0	how what they need to develop in order to build their executive presence. And some of it has been
1:51.4	so off base and sexist. And so as I've heard a few more things, especially in recent weeks,
	...

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