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“Executive presence” is usually taught like a cross between acting lessons and finishing school: Dress the part. Stand up straight. Project confidence. Make direct eye contact. Speak in low tones. The underlying idea is that if you learn to look and act like a certain type of leader, people will treat you like one.
After years of training executives to communicate effectively, I agree: Nice clothes and good posture are certainly helpful. But they don’t really help you lead people or companies.
Leadership boils down to consistently demonstrating good judgment, usually through what you say and how you say it. The people we perceive as authoritative tend to know what to say before the rest of us. They seem to convey more meaning with fewer words, organize complicated ideas in simple ways and, crucially, know when to stop talking.
These habits make people want to listen to you. Fortunately, they’re not personality-based, they’re skills you can learn. Here are the two most important places to start:
1. Say less
Imagine someone asks, in a room full of colleagues, “Will the report be ready Tuesday?” Compare these two answers:
- “Well, ahh, I mean, I think we probably should be able to have it ready by then? We’re still waiting on a couple of numbers from the finance team, but depending on what happens there — just assuming we get those by Monday morning or even later on Monday before, I guess, 3, then yes, Tuesday should hopefully be doable.”
- “Yes. We’ll have it Tuesday.”
In my experience, the more senior the rank, the shorter the answers tend to be.
Junior employees often have too much sense of self and too little awareness that their audience doesn’t want to hear them think out loud or prove their intelligence. Overexplaining is one of the fastest ways to weaken your authority.
So the first big step toward executive presence is stripping away the extra words and phrases that get in the way. Here are a few common types of verbal clutter, as I call it, to start editing out of your speech:
- Filler words like “um” and “you know” require your audience’s ears and brain to work harder but contribute nothing to their understanding.
- Hedges are words or phrases that weaken a statement without changing its content, like “I think,” “maybe,” “sort of,” “I just wanted to quickly say…” and “if that makes sense.”
- Clunky phrasing or extra words just get in the way. Swap “about six or seven” for “seven.” Replace “assuming we get those by Monday morning or even later on Monday before, like, 3 p.m.” with “if we get those by Monday at 3 p.m.”
- Jargon dulls your audience’s attention and makes you harder to understand. Always use (notice I didn’t say “utilize”) the simplest, most direct terms possible.
- Extraneous explanation, process, context and answers beyond the scope of the question muddy your points with unnecessary and often unhelpful information.
2. Give the answer first
The key is to begin every answer with… the answer.
- When someone asks when the project will launch, start with: “Tuesday.”
- If they ask whether you support the proposal, start with: “Yes.”
- If they ask what happened to the acquisition, start with: “We decided not to move ahead.”
Then explain why, giving three to five distinct supporting points.
For example, you might say: “We decided not to move ahead for three reasons. First, the economics changed. Second, we found a regulatory issue during diligence. And third, we think there’s a better use for the capital.”
The answer feels authoritative because the thinking is organized. People form judgments about speakers remarkably quickly. If they don’t know where you’re going within a few seconds, they might lose focus and begin wondering whether you know what you’re talking about. But if you give people the answer first, they’re more likely to keep listening.
Obviously, not every question lends itself to a perfectly formulaic answer; you don’t want to oversimplify or convey false certainty. The goal is to distinguish information your audience needs from information you happen to know.
The more you learn to speak in concise, declarative language, and the more practice you get putting your answers first, the easier it will be to stop rambling, prune your bad verbal habits and deliver responses that feel intentional and easy to follow — even when the topic is complex.
You’ll probably also become less nervous and more confident. At some point, you won’t need to manufacture or “project” authority. You’ll have it.
John Bowe is an executive communication and presentation coach, award-winning journalist, and author of “I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection.” He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications.
