Building Executive Presence Through Effective Communication Skills

Executive presence is a mix of gravitas, communication skills, and appearance. But how do you learn to command a room if you only have a few opportunities to be in front of your colleagues, except for the occasional video call? This is the situation that one of our listeners is in. She joins Amy B and two other women who’ve each cultivated a strong executive presence, Megan Bock and Laura Sicola, to get advice on what hers can look and sound like.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to improve your own influence and impact, keep a virtual audience engaged, and grow while staying true to yourself.

Guest experts:

Megan Bock is the chief operating officer at Federato, a company that uses machine learning to assess risk. Cultivating an executive presence helped her rise up through the insurance industry and into tech.

Laura Sicola is a cognitive linguist who coaches leaders on communicating strategically. She hosts the podcast Speaking to Influence, and she wrote the book Speaking to Influence: Master Your Leadership Voice.

Resources:

• “The New Rules of Executive Presence,” by Sylvia Ann Hewlett
• “If You Want To Lead, Master This Skill,” by Dina Denham Smith
• “Gravitas Is a Quality You Can Develop,” by Rebecca Newton
• “To Sound Like a Leader, Think About What You Say, and How and When You Say It,” by Rebecca Shambaugh

Sign up for the Women at Work newsletter.

Email us: womenatwork@hbr.org