What Is Executive Presence?

• By Scott Eblin
• January 16, 2013
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During the past couple of months, I’ve been in four or five conversations with leadership development professionals who are looking for a way to build executive presence in their organization’s high potential managers. Most of them have tried different programs and approaches and they’re not happy with the results they’ve gotten.

I have a theory about why that’s the case. Executive presence is one of those terms that’s often used but rarely clearly defined. If you do a Google search on the term you’ll find articles that talk about confidence, communications, personal appearance, body language and other factors that don’t get a lot more specific than that. It’s a great case of what the French would call je ne sais quoi – something that can’t be adequately described.

That, of course, makes executive presence hard to teach to people. If you can’t describe it, you can’t teach it.

Based on the research I did for my book, The Next Level, and more than a decade of coaching senior executives and high potential managers, I’d like to offer a two part definition of executive presence. First, it’s about ...

How to Get Rid of the Things That Drain You

• By Scott Eblin
• January 7, 2013
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Over the weekend I had a great reminder of how much things change over time. I received an email from a coach I worked with back in 2004. She had been cleaning out some files and found a document that she asked me to write for her when we were working together. It was a list of twenty nine things that were draining my energy back then. I was in a bit of a funk in that period and the list included worries about family, health, friends, business – the works really.

As I looked it over, I realized that there were only two things on the list that still bug me – a messy office and messy bookshelves. After nine years of those two, I think I’ve come to terms with the mess.

The rest of the things on the list have been resolved in one way or the other. Honestly, I’d forgotten about most of the things that were top of mind when I wrote it. Of the ones I would have remembered without the reminder, many were resolved because of actions I took. Others just kind of evaporated on their own.

Of course, I have a new ...

Three Lessons Dick Clark Taught Us About Succession Planning

• By Scott Eblin
• January 2, 2013
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Like millions of Americans on Monday night, I watched Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve to count down to the new year as the ball dropped in Times Square. Of course, it wasn’t the same show as in decades past because Dick Clark passed away last April. But, it was still Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. And, as the title of the show implies, among his many other accomplishments, Dick Clark left a world class lesson in leadership succession planning.

As this article in Billboard magazine explains, Dick Clark built a team of professionals who worked with him for years and this New Year’s Eve was their first without their long time leader. One of the newer members of the team was Ryan Seacrest who Clark recruited in 2006 to co-host the show after he had a stroke that kept him off the air in 2005.

In the years that followed, Clark and Seacrest co-hosted the show with Seacrest handling most of the on-air segments and Clark counting down the last few seconds until the new year. This year, with plenty of tributes to Dick Clark along the way, Seacrest ...

When Being There is All You Can Do

• By Scott Eblin
• December 18, 2012
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Like millions around the world, the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday has weighed heavily on my heart and mind these past few days. In all of the coverage and conversation, I’ve yet to hear anyone, myself included, come up with the words to explain how such a thing could happen or to fully console the families and friends of those who were lost.   In his remarks at a Sunday night vigil, President Obama eloquently remembered the victims, provided solace to the community and offered his thoughts on how and why the country should respond to the loss.

The President offered two examples for leaders on Sunday night.  First, he took the time and emotional strength to put into words what many of us wish we could have said.  He spoke on our behalf.  Second, he demonstrated what all leaders can do in times of tragedy even if words fail them.  He went to be with his people.

In times of tragedy, leaders need to be there. If, as the leader, you can come up with words of comfort so much the better, but in times of great tragedy you need to physically be with your people. They need ...

The Traits That Make RG III a Leader

• By Scott Eblin
• December 10, 2012
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Given my history on this blog, I never thought I’d write anything positive about anything to do with the Washington Redskins. After all, one of the most widely read posts I’ve ever written was one back in 2009 called Learning What Not to Do from the Leadership of the Washington Redskins. Heck, I even did a television interview on the topic. There is no denying that I’m on the record as thinking that the Redskins have had some pretty bad leadership for over a decade. I swore I wasn’t going to root for them until it improved.

Well, it has and it comes in the form of rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III. It’s been a strange experience to find myself rooting for the Redskins but that’s what’s been happening this year as Griffin has led his team to the verge of the playoffs. The guy is so compelling I can’t help myself.

It’s not just his play on the field, it is, as so many others have noted, how he leads on field and off. Take this past Sunday’s game against the Ravens as a case study in what makes ...