(The three people described below are each composites of a number of clients who have come through my public speaking programs and services.) Jane was bright, experienced, and the only female on her work team. Frustrated, she felt that nothing she said at team meetings was taken seriously and her participation was frequently discounted or More…
Tag: leadership presence
Absence: The Number One Obstacle to Presence
(Original article copyrighted in 2008) I was at a team meeting recently where a group of us were talking about the leadership training program in an organization employing about 275 people. One person in the group asked the CEO, “What’s the opposite of leadership?” The CEO without any hesitation immediately said, “Absence!” How interesting! I More…
The first ingredient of rapport is full attention
I was listening to an interview today with Daniel Goleman, who, having previously introduced the concept of Emotional Intelligence, is now talking about Social Intelligence. His current work is looking at how the brain is wired to create connection. The sentence that drew me into the interview today was, “The first ingredient of rapport is More…
Find the haven of your back body…
The ability to step back, not get caught up in the fray, see the forest for the trees, is key for leaders in all capacities. When the chaos of an emergent crisis grabs everyone’s attention, it is so easy to jump in with both feet. All our attention gets pulled to the details of the More…
More on Obama’s presence
Here’s one final thought on Obama’s presence during his inauguration speech. Think about how you felt while listening to his speech. Then read the text of his speech. Do you get the same feeling? If we go through the various ways we could have taken in his speech, we’d get varying degrees of his presence: More…
Inauguration Presence
The epitome of true leadership presence! Presence is about so much more than the words that we speak. Yesterday we had several exquisite examples of real presence. Barak Obama and Elizabeth Alexander were the most compelling for me. Barack Obama: Most people pay attention to his words because they are so riveting. I’m curious about More…