What’s your signature presence?
Presence is a word that recently has been showing up in my vocabulary quite often. Now, this is a word I am very familiar with; however, never thought of it past the walking, the clothes, and how I fix my hair and make-up. I now know that it is much more than that. Just like your signature, your presence is unique to only you, and it is made up of several different entities.
When we think of the word, presence, the first thing that comes to mind is, probably, what I like to call “the outside stuff.” You may think of the clothes that you wear, or the way you stand and walk. This makes up your image. I believe that no image is “right” or “wrong,” it is simply what you would like to project to others around you.
Having a solid image is great, but there has to be more when it comes to presence. The second entity of your presence is your leadership style. Having a well-defined leadership style takes your presence to the next level. Here are a couple questions you may want to ask yourself about your leadership style:
- Do I lead by example or am I a more “out front” type of leader?
- Do I motivate others by being task-oriented or rather by giving them a vision of the big picture?
- Do I call all the shots when I am in a leadership position or do I take in consideration the “wants” of others I am leading?
Awareness of your leadership style is crucial to your overall presence.
Now that you have the walk, the stance, and the style, it’s time to add in
the talk. The goal of this whole presence thing anyway is to turn heads when you walk into a room. So, you have to have the talk to back this all up.
The last entity is to know how you will market yourself. You’ve done all this hard work to create your image and your style; it would be a shame not to tell others about it. First, get your facts straight and know how you will tell others who you are, what you do and what you are passionate about (hint: use the things you learned when defining your image and leadership style as your facts). These are your “selling points.” Your image and style will be the things that get others to stop and look. Your talk will get them to listen and say, “Now, that’s presence.”
