• My Listings
Expert Circle
  • Expert Panels
    Expert Panel: How to Develop a Content Strategy

    Expert Panel: How to Develop a Content Strategy

    Expert Panel: If you could only do one thing in an organisation to improve the sense of belonging, what would it be?

    Expert Panel: If you could only do one thing in an organisation to improve the sense of belonging, what would it be?

    Expert panel: What are the benefits of coaching and mentoring?

    Expert panel: What are the benefits of coaching and mentoring?

    Expert Panel: What is one change you recommend making to enhance culture and productivity

    Expert Panel: What is one change you recommend making to enhance culture and productivity

  • Get Featured
    Contribute to the panel: should companies disclose salary information in job descriptions?

    Contribute to the panel: should companies disclose salary information in job descriptions?

    Contribute to the panel: how to manage toxic people in your team

    Contribute to the panel: how to manage toxic people in your team

    Contribute to the panel: If you could only do one thing in an organisation to improve the sense of belonging, what would it be?

    Contribute to the panel: If you could only do one thing in an organisation to improve the sense of belonging, what would it be?

    Contribute to the panel: How do you deal with the negativity without letting it drag you down as the leader?

    Contribute to the panel: How do you deal with the negativity without letting it drag you down as the leader?

    Contribute to the panel: What are the benefits of coaching and mentoring?

    Contribute to the panel: What are the benefits of coaching and mentoring?

    Expert Panel

    Contribute to the Expert Panel: What are the important factors to consider before starting a business?

  • Branded Content
  • Media Pack
No Result
View All Result
Expert Circle
No Result
View All Result
Home Leadership

Influence – The Stuff of Winners

by Jack Downton
June 17, 2021
in Leadership
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0
Influence – The Stuff of Winners
844
SHARES
2.9k
VIEWS
Share on LinkedinShare on Twitter

How effective are your people as influencers? Influencing in sales meetings? In one to one conversations? In internal meetings, when giving presentations and seminars? It doesn’t matter how clever they are if they can’t persuade others to their way of thinking. And if they can’t, they won’t make an impact and are unlikely to win.

So what does it take for someone to make the difference for your organisation and in professional service firms, to really differentiate their proposition from that of the competition? The answer is executive presence – something everyone should aspire to and which is eminently achievable if you know what to do and put it into practice.

What is Executive Presence?

In essence, it is something about you that makes others sit up, pay attention and believe in you, in what you say and follow. Therefore it’s essential for advancement and in influencing clients, and it’s very largely manifest in natural behaviours you can learn if necessary, hone and exhibit. Three broad areas are Communication skills, Gravitas and Appearance.

Appearance

Starting with Appearance because it’s the lesser of the three. Nevertheless, it is the lens through which people see you and make an instant, often unconscious judgement about you. Before you open your mouth or take a step, you have been seen. How you dress is dependent on the context. For example, if you’re a lawyer in a city firm out to meet a client, you may well dress very differently from someone in the new tech industry. Both can be right, but make sure you hit the right note for your audience.

Communication Skills

I always think of that great quote by 20th century American poet

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

Long after you’ve finished your talk or presentation, how do you get your audience to remember that you made them feel good even if they’ve forgotten the detail?

Being yourself, having a truly conversational delivery and structuring content for your audience rather than for you. And I hardly need to mention, and this means avoiding ‘Death by PowerPoint’, which incidentally is a brilliant tool though almost universally used appallingly! It means telling your own stories and examples and, above all, not manipulating your body language. Let it be an honest expression of you (irritating habits aside).

A truly conversational delivery means people will remember you, if you get it right, as just having had a chat with them, irrespective of how many there were in the audience. No jargon, using everyday language and explaining matters so that you don’t underestimate anyone’s intelligence, nor do you overestimate their knowledge.

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

Albert Einstein

Structuring for your audience simply means that they can answer the “What’s in this for me?” question or put another way, “So what?”

Gravitas

People with it show self confidence which is often seen in very evident behaviours: They are comfortable with eye contact and silence, they don’t use ten words when five will suffice, and this is often manifest by them showing interest, asking questions and listening rather than talking excessively about themselves or their pet project. In their movement and posture, they are upright yet relaxed.

These behaviours can all be learned and applied and the sum of them all is executive presence with all the personal and corporate benefits it brings.

Influencing others is a necessary business practice, read more on the subject.

Share59Tweet211Share338SendShareSend

Jack Downton

Related Posts

Content as a lead magnet for Coaches
Blogging

Content as a lead magnet for Coaches

March 30, 2023
7
How to Write Case Studies as a Coach
Blogging

How to Write Case Studies as a Coach

March 30, 2023
21
Mrs. Universe Juanita Ingram on the transformative power of purposeful work for women
Careers and Education

Mrs. Universe Juanita Ingram on the transformative power of purposeful work for women

March 8, 2023
189
5 tips on how to create a great team-building event
Business Management

5 tips on how to create a great team-building event

March 2, 2023
9
5 tips on how to help your team deal with burnout
HR & Recruitment

5 tips on how to help your team deal with burnout

March 2, 2023
8
How coaching and mentoring works?
Business Management

How coaching and mentoring works?

February 20, 2023
7
Earn the trust of the team and then gradually, negativity disappears
Leadership

Earn the trust of the team and then gradually, negativity disappears

February 20, 2023
8
Expert Panel: If you could only do one thing in an organisation to improve the sense of belonging, what would it be?
Expert Panel

Expert Panel: If you could only do one thing in an organisation to improve the sense of belonging, what would it be?

March 1, 2023
144
Blogging for coaches: the DO’s and DON’Ts
Blogging

Blogging for coaches: the DO’s and DON’Ts

February 3, 2023
24
How to position yourself as a coach?
Leadership

How to position yourself as a coach?

September 15, 2022
33
Next Post
SPRINT – book review

SPRINT - book review

person using black laptop computer on brown wooden table

Remote Working – Three Ingredients

The Effective Executive – book review

The Effective Executive - book review

Call to Action

Categories

  • Book and Movie Club
    • Book Review
    • Business Library
    • Movie review
  • Business Management
    • Accounting
    • Careers and Education
    • HR & Recruitment
    • Startup
  • Current Affairs
    • Notes From Ukraine
  • Expert Panel
  • Finance
    • Investing
  • Get Featured
  • Leadership
    • Coaching and Mentoring
    • Motivational
  • Lifestyle
  • Marketing
    • Blogging
    • Design
    • Digital Marketing
    • Email Marketing
    • Networking
    • Podcast
  • Sales
    • Objection Handling
  • Uncategorized

Advertisement

Black Friday Week 2021 v2

Categories

  • Book and Movie Club (171)
    • Book Review (18)
    • Business Library (146)
    • Movie review (1)
  • Business Management (37)
    • Accounting (1)
    • Careers and Education (4)
    • HR & Recruitment (10)
    • Startup (6)
  • Current Affairs (17)
    • Notes From Ukraine (17)
  • Expert Panel (13)
  • Finance (1)
    • Investing (1)
  • Get Featured (12)
  • Leadership (42)
    • Coaching and Mentoring (3)
    • Motivational (12)
  • Lifestyle (10)
  • Marketing (72)
    • Blogging (20)
    • Design (1)
    • Digital Marketing (23)
    • Email Marketing (1)
    • Networking (4)
    • Podcast (2)
  • Sales (4)
    • Objection Handling (1)
  • Uncategorized (2)

An Award-winning Platform

Top categories on Expert Circle

  • Book Club
  • Business Management
  • Leadership
  • Marketing & Sales

Opportunities on Expert Circle

  • Branded Content
  • Promote Your Website
  • Media Pack
  • Get Featured
  • Expert Panels
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Expert Circle

No Result
View All Result
  • All posts by Experts
  • Get Featured
  • Expert Panels
  • Promote Your Website
  • Branded Content
  • Media Pack

© 2021 Expert Circle

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.