This month’s blogs are all focused on Executive (or Leadership) Presence. You can find the first post in this series here. In it I discuss EP in general, what it is and why you need it. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you do!
According to the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), Executive Presence is comprised of three main components; gravitas (how you act), communication (how you speak) and appearance (how you look). This week we’ll be taking a deeper look at what gravitas is, why it’s so important to how you are perceived as a leader and how you can improve yours. According to CTI’s research, senior executives say that gravitas is the most important component of executive presence, accounting for 67%, so if you want to be perceived as a leader, you have to have gravitas!
Gravitas is a little tricky because it’s not just one thing. Gravitas is defined as “the combined effect of variables that signal to the world that you’re the real deal, a heavyweight in your field and in your organization, someone worthy of being heard and followed”. (CTI, 2013) Simply put, it’s how you carry yourself in all situations. Gravitas is combined of six key elements that convey to those around you that you have what it takes to be a leader. These six elements include:
- Confidence, Poise & Grace Under Fire: Showing that you believe in yourself, so others will too, especially under pressure.Keeping your cool, even during times of stress.
- Decisiveness:Having the courage and confidence to make decisions and take responsibility for them.
- Emotional Intelligence: Demonstrating empathy for others and being accountable for actions and their impact, particularly in tough and stressful situations.
- Integrity & Speaking Truth to Power: Having a set of values and standards and sticking to them, even when they may not be the most popular. This includes speaking up for what you believe in.
- Reputation: Having a great leadership brand andbeing considered a positive role model in your organization.
- Vision: Inspiring others with certainty about the future and painting a realistic and relevant image of the desired state.
Gravitas is crucial for leadership success, in fact, if you don’t have gravitas, you likely won’t even be considered as a leader, no matter what your title or level of authority. People are drawn to leaders who are true to their word, keep their cool and show compassion as well as courage in making the truly hard choices. If you have the skills and talent for a role but still find yourself being passed over for a promotion, you may be lacking gravitas. Gravitas is not something that you can fake, but you can develop and improve it.
Great leaders aren’t born, they’re made. You can increase your gravitas with a little bit of effort. If you live intentionally and turn your convictions into actions, people will naturally start to gravitate towards you. If you feel like your gravitas needs some work, here are three simple things you can start doing today develop yours.
- Give credit where credit is due. Have you ever worked for someone who took all the credit for everyone else’s work? It’s awful. Don’t be that leader! Highlight the people who help you achieve your results. This shows that you have integrity and confidence. People will appreciate it and will likely work even harder for you.
- Own your mistakes. If you or your team make a mistake, take responsibility for it! Take ownership over what went wrong and take the steps to fix it. Don’t play the blame game, blaming others shows arrogance and a lack of compassion. Owning your mistakes takes confidence and grace, two crucial parts of gravitas and EP.
- Let others share the workload. I meet leaders all the time who try and do everything themselves. There are always a ton of reasons why – sometimes it’s because they don’t want to burden their teams, sometimes it’s that they don’t have confidence that anyone else can do it as well as them. Whatever the reason, it can really hurt your gravitas. The more you empower your team to do the work, the more likely you will be perceived as a leader. Start developing your team and enable them to share the workload, it helps you expand your capacity as a leader and shows you can share the limelight!
Gravitas really is the heart of Executive Presence. Without it, your talent and skill may go unnoticed and you may miss out on leadership opportunities. If you want to be perceived as a leader you have to develop your gravitas!
I’d love to hear your thoughts! What does gravitas mean to you?
