“What are you doing?”

I was asking Alessandro this at the beginning of the Mastering Virtual Presentations workshop.  Alessandro was giving his first presentation and I was trying to make sense of his sudden stone-faced glare and forceful hand gestures.

“I was told I need executive presence so I’m trying to come across with gravitas.”

The problem was that he was trying to do it with his body.

Executive Presence is an aura.

An aura is an emanation. 

To emanate means to flow out. 

Your body does not emanate.  You do.

That’s why “body language” is a useless entrance to Executive Presence.

When you try to do it via your body, that’s called “posturing”.  Posturing means to assume a posture standing or sitting, including arranging your hands and facial expression, for the purpose of impressing.

Trying to impress and posturing are both useless when it comes to Executive Presence.

Executive Presence is an aura.  It comes from within.  You emanate it.  And it’s effortless once you bring it to light.

I showed Alessandro the map for finding his light. 

Many of life’s roads lead us away from our own presence.  You have to connect with that first before you can find your Executive Presence, that elegant, sophisticated, higher-level presence that compels respectful attention.

It’s not something to be found “out there,” it’s something you must discover from within.

Be the cause!