I have some thoughts on what executive presence looks like from my experience of meeting with close to 60 chief executive officers and presenting to well over 150 different executive committees. I’ve served three Chiefs of Naval Operations on the CNO executive panel and been on the boards of colleges and universities through seven different presidents. I’ve also met with an SEC Commissioner, two state governors, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and one Marine Corps Commandant.
Executive presence is elusive and hard to pin down because it varies by organization, but to paraphrase Chief Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.”
Ultimately, you must project competency and engender trust, and you can never appear to be a lightweight. You can have a sense of humor, you can have light moments, but at the end of it all, you have to have the gravitas of a leader.
1. You must wear your clothes, your clothes must not wear you.
If you’re starting a new job, before you start, I suggest you sit yourself outside the headquarters at the beginning of the day—which is 6:30 to 7 a.m. for leadership at many places—and watch very carefully how people dress. You should be able to tell who is in the corner offices versus who is in Sub-Basement 3. Although this has changed quite a bit in the last 10 years, with suits and ties for men remaining only in New York, I can tell well-dressed casual from sloppy casual. What you will never see in senior leadership is sloppiness. Further, most senior executives are in decent physical condition. Some companies have senior executives who are all in shape. Although you will occasionally see senior people who are overweight, their clothes will be tailored so there are no bulges.
One of the sad things I see at university commencements are ridiculous high-heeled shoes on women and ugly rubber-soled slip-on shoes on men. Five-inch heels have very little use outside of nightclubs or reality shows. Men who want to project authority should have leather soles on their shoes, even if they’re loafers. These days, it’s almost always appropriate to wear a blazer with an open-collar shirt. Make sure the blazer is expensive and well-tailored to you. Same with the shirt. If after 15 minutes you’ve got big, blousey, excess shirt material hanging over the top of your belt, you’ll look sloppy. Trousers can be jeans at some companies. Stay away from pleated khakis.
Be careful where you’re shopping: Think more Nordstrom, never Old Navy, never ever Urban Outfitters. If you think it doesn’t matter, think again. Perceptions are made in seconds, and opportunities disappear more quickly.
Finally, if you wear a watch, wear a sensible one. A simple Timex is fine, but, again, look at the leaders. Some companies are watch places—I’ve seen senior executives with $30,000 watches. I wear an older steel Rolex GMT, which regularly gets compliments.
If you want to be a leader, you will find that you will have to dress very well every day, including weekends, because you never know who you’re going to run into—or who’s going to see you. Women should avoid clingy clothes and/or short skirts. Tailoring is essential for both genders.
2. You must have intellectual curiosity and vigor in your thought.
Most people shut down the learning process when they get their degree; those folks will never be CEOs. If you want to be successful, you must discipline your learning process to include many sources of information on a seven-days-a-week basis. You cannot watch a fluffy morning TV show and then have anything relevant to say when you meet a vice president in the elevator; you have to watch CNBC. My favorite CNBC story: I was watching the network (as is my habit) in a hotel room before meeting with a chief human resources officer, who I knew was a bit of a hard ass. CNBC had aation":"searchwp-spinner-line-fade-quick","direction":1,"zIndex":2000000000,"className":"spinner","top":"50%","left":"50%","shadow":"0 0 1px transparent","position":"absolute"}}},"msg_no_config_found":"No valid SearchWP Live Search configuration found!","aria_instructions":"When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to go to the desired page. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures.","searchwp_live_search_client_nonce":"838c2cca7a"};;