Presence & Profile
How to Build Your Executive Presence
with Alisa Cohn
with Alisa Cohn
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Read the comments below for some of the insights that resonated with our participants.
Named the Top Startup Coach in the World at the Thinkers50/Marshall Goldsmith Global Coaches Awards in London, Alisa Cohn has been coaching startup founders to grow into world-class CEOs for nearly 20 years.
Named the Top Startup Coach in the World at the Thinkers50/Marshall Goldsmith Global Coaches Awards in London, Alisa Cohn has been coaching startup founders to grow into world-class CEOs for nearly 20 years.
A onetime startup CFO, strategy consultant, and current angel investor and advisor, she was named a top 30 “Global Guru” and has worked with startups such as Venmo, Etsy, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, and Tory Burch. She has also coached CEOs and C-Suite executives at enterprise clients such as Dell, Hitachi, Sony, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Bloomberg, The New York Times, and Calvin Klein.
Alisa is a sought-after speaker and has keynoted events for companies such as IBM, PwC, Dell, Standard Chartered Bank, and Citi. Inc named Alisa one of the top 100 leadership speakers.
Alisa is a guest lecturer at Harvard and Cornell Universities, Henley Business School and the Naval War College. Marshall Goldsmith selected Alisa as one of his Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches – a gathering of the top coaches in the world. She is the executive coach for Runway – the incubator at Cornell NYC Tech that helps post-docs commercialize their technology and build companies. She serves on the board of the Cornell Advisory Council. She has coached public and political figures including the former Supreme Court Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and the first female minister in the transitional government of Afghanistan.
Alisa’s articles have appeared in HBR, Forbes, and Inc and she has been featured as an expert on Bloomberg TV, the BBC World News and in the New York Times. A recovering CPA, she is also a Broadway investor in productions which have won two Tony Awards and is prone to burst into song at the slightest provocation.
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I hope you enjoyed this Tip and interview and found them useful. Most importantly, I want you to put the Tip into action!
Every day of the Summit, I’m awarding a prize for the Best Comment. So, leave a comment to share what action you’ve taken or are going to take, or your biggest “aha” and how the Tip or interview is making you think differently.
And remember, you can get input from me here when you comment or ask a question. So go ahead and share what you are thinking and doing with this Tip!
Loved this tip, thank you! Up-talk is very distracting, and something I’ve worked on heavily over the years. I’d be interested to know if there are other tips on body language/playing big/playing small, and how this should be leveraged if you’re a male or female.
Thank you Melanie! Keep working on your uptalk! Men and women should both look people in the eye (right in the camera if your on video) and use your hands decisively, not chaotically. Shoulders back and head up show strength and a genuine smile show warmth. Use both!
Really good tip Alisa. My wife has been very like this. She is a brilliant teacher and does amazing things as an educator but her career has levelled off as she moves up the levels. We are now engaged in working together to analyse how we can look at and improve the way she communicates and her confidence in talking to people at a senior level.
It is working!
Thanks for the affirmation!
Russ
I agree this is a great Tip from Alisa. And I’m so glad your wife is making progress – it’s wonderful that she has your help and support!
Best,
May
Excellent! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the video and the Insights. I’ve noticed that while I’m very confident talking to more junior people or with people at my level or a little higher, I get very stressed when I am in a meeting with high level Execs and as such I prefer to stay quiet. Getting feedback from others and building this confidence will definitely be the next steps for me. Thanks you!
Wonderful that you’ll be building up your confidence. It’s key to keep taking steps. Wishing you well!
So happy you are making progress! Also visualize people you ARE comfortable talking with when you are interacting with people you aren’t. It helps shift your perspective and even your body language.
That’s a good tip. I find visualization of the meeting flow or the tone I want to project prior to the meeting helps me prepare for the meeting. I will add this tip to my preparation! Thank you!
Love the tips and the content of the interview. A precise definition of executive presence and the three elements: gravitate, communication and appearance. Coherence and Consistency. Developing our executive presence and career is a journey – adaptation to the situation and the environment. Endless opportunities anytime is the moment. Asking and absorbing real and constructive feedback. Cultivating emotional intelligence, self-consciousness and self-regulation, social awareness, and social interaction. Thank you, Alisa Cohn and May Bush!
So happy you found this helpful and great synthesis!
Great advice. Thank you, Alisa, May, and attendees who offered good tips in the comments as well.
Thanks for this video. Very informative and insightful. Would love to hear more from Alisa.
Thank you so much Hashmat! Glad you found this helpful!
I am a big believer that your image and how you present yourself can skew how others see you in terms of authority in the workplace. With so many firms going “casual” in appearance, many employees have lost sight of the fact that their appearance still represents the company to clients, other companies, and to the upper eschelon. The top tier of management wants to see you as someone who represents the company as professional and polished. Your appearance being less than polished, will not convey authority for you or your firm’s brand.
Amen Patty. Well said. People will judge you (fairly or unfairly) based on how you present yourself and your attire speaks loudly.
It’s true. Fair or not you have to “look the part” for people to be able to envision you as a leader. Everyone should look around and see what “polished” looks like in their own companies.
Your image can be a powerful tool in being viewed as a business professional and can mean the difference between getting the promotion or not.
True Randi!
This was a great presentation. Simple and to the point. My take away is the need for getting feedback on my executive presence. I know that I have a nervous habit of closing my eyes when I am speaking in situations where I am nervous and I have been working really hard to change it. However, there may be other things that I am doing or not doing that lead to people to not see me as having Executive Presence.
Thank you! That habit is very interesting… and you are not alone! Visualize yourself in advance showing up how you want to, and that might cut down on your nerves. Also, get feedback from trusted colleagues about how you might be showing up. Good luck and glad you are working on this!
Thank you for the tips. Asking for input and feedback from others on my executive presence will be a challenge, but I will push through my comfort levels and try.
It’s wonderful that you are pushing through your comfort levels – it’s the way to keep growing and improving. Starting with someone you trust and who knows you well will make it easier. As one of my mentors says, “you don’t have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going!” I’m rooting for you.
Best,
May
PS – You might want to check out Wayne Baker’s Tip today – he shares the way to make an ask and not feel funny about it.
I second May’s comments – good for you! Getting out of your comfort zone and taking risks is the recipe for success!
I thought the video and her tips were extremely insightful. I appreciated the very clear takeaways and actionable items. I did have one thought, however… Her third tip, of the dressing for the part you want is interesting because she asked as to “Look around you and observe how senior executives look. There’s a certain uniform in every organization. And if you want to be seen in a senior role, you have to mirror that uniform.” But in doing that, that goes against the diversity and inclusion movement that is sweeping the world at this point… What if all my leaders are white, wealthy, able-bodied men? Just because you were not white, or able-bodied or of a certain socioeconomic status which will allow you to dress in certain clothes should not determine your work and presence.
I think I understand in theory the point she was trying to make, as well as others who have had similar advice, but literally, I think this advice goes against the drive for diversity and inclusion.
You make some good points Chelsea, thank you. I think it’s important for everyone to feel included and safe in the workplace and also have opportunity to rise. And there is a need for everyone to try to read the room and the culture. It’s certainly the jobs of leaders to ensure that the environment is inclusive to all.
Thanks for this info. In the less formal business environment that has been developing in recent years (and more actively promoted by the pandemic and WFH), it has become easier to equate less formality with less polish and professionalism. Representing ourselves and our organizations in a professional manner is still a worthwhile expectation.
Life can be so unfair – we all know that people who succeed are not always the most intelligent or those who put in the most effort and time, but those who know how to carry themselves and project the right image. Alisa gave us ‘Executive Presence’ as the invaluable tool which makes a difference between those who make it up the corporate ladder and those who do not.
I’ll now start looking at the workplace using Alisa’s tools with new lenses on, to develop myself and grow through that journey.
Another interesting thought is, that we could probably combine Alisa’s advice with Keith Farrazzi’s earlier session on ‘How To Lead Without Authority’ Co-elevation concept – i.e. to partner with another as we both grow our executive presence. Once we are feeling more confident on the journey, we could also invite other people to join us to transform their executive presence in a mentor / self-help group manner which will benefit both the individuals and the company.
Excellent insights Jayne and thank you for your comments. And yes! Very powerful to combine these thoughts along with Keith’s!
I do outreach online on FB as a preacher and sometimes when I am facing difficulties such as attacks , I usually take off for 2 to 3 days and I am sure this is not good sometimes I feel that my audience miss me and I miss them. I wanted to be regular and on time but I am in a learning process where I still need help in how to manage challenges. Any advise would help.
Messages on social media can be hurtful indeed. Here are three thoughts I’d share:
– As someone said to me, “When you have ‘haters’, you know you’ve made it!”
– While you can’t control what others say, you can control how you react. That’s why: (1) it’s helpful to keep a “happy file” you can turn to to remind yourself of all the good things you’ve done for your followers and the positive impact you’ve made. The “happy file” includes positive comments and emails from people who’ve thanked you for making their lives better. And (2) it’s important to learn to ignore those comments – or take whatever is useful and leave the rest behind (ie, sometimes they are pointing out an opportunity to improve, but using mean language – so overlook the mean language and take the opportunity).
– Remember who you are writing/posting for and focus on them – you can’t please everyone. If you write for everyone, it’s hard to rise above the crowd to be found by the people you are seeking to serve. You can even share your feelings with your audience who are likely to support you.
Hope this helps.
Great advice from Alisa – clear, easy to understand and practical suggestions, thank you.
I often coach people on identifying role models, but until now I never thought about anti-role models. Great coaching tip, thanks!
Wonderful Mark – glad this was helpful!
Thanks for all the tips and insights, Alisa. I plan to apply the tip to ask for specific behaviors I should focus on when seeking feedback on my executive presence.
I can absolutely agree that getting feedback on where you can be more effective and keeping your communication style crisp, brief, and to the point are important. But I struggle with the appearance factor. This assumes that our executive teams are already diverse but in reality, we know they are not. When I look around my executive table, they are mainly older, white males who came from wealthy families and/or prestigious schools. I do not and will never look like these guys and didn’t have the same experiences growing up – does that mean I have to give up my authentic self and start to look and act like them to become an executive? I hope not! I think we need to reimagine the term “executive presence” so it fits the evolving times we live in and captures what we’re aspiring to achieve with regards to a more diverse and inclusive environment, especially at the top.