The Power of Presence: How Leaders Can Elevate Their Influence
What Makes Some Leaders Stand Out?
What makes some leaders naturally compelling, while others struggle to inspire confidence? Leadership presence is not about speaking well or dressing the part. It has much more to do with how you show up, engage with others, and carry yourself in a way that builds trust, credibility, and influence. Yet many leaders don’t actively think about presence, even though it plays a critical role in their career trajectory. Whether you’re leading a store team, a district, an entire region, or the company, your ability to project confidence, clarity, and connection can determine how effectively you inspire and guide those around you.
Everything Communicates—Including You
Whether you realize it or not, you are always communicating. The way you carry yourself, engage with others, and present information sends signals to those around you. Just as a store’s appearance tells customers what kind of experience they can expect, or a hotel’s towels convey a sense of quality and care, your presence always communicates something to others.
This is why leadership presence is so important. It’s not just about how you speak in meetings or the confidence you show during a presentation. It’s about the total impact you have on the people around you. Whether you intentionally manage your presence or not, it shapes how others perceive you and, in turn, how much influence you have.
Presence Is Both a Skill and a Mindset
Many people assume leadership presence is an innate quality, something you’re born with. But that is not the case. Presence is a combination of learned skills and an intentional mindset. It can be learned, it can be developed, and you can continue to improve it. As a skill, presence can be developed through communication techniques, body language awareness, and refining how you engage in conversations. It can be practiced and refined over time.
As a mindset, presence is about being intentional. Leaders with a strong presence don’t just show up and hope for the best. They take control of how they project their knowledge and connections to others. It is how they demonstrate confidence. They show they are credible and want to have an engaged conversation. Great leaders with a strong and positive presence recognize that you cannot fake your way through the essential parts of building trust and relationships. It is knowing how to show up at the right times.
How You Appear, Carry Yourself, and Engage
Strong leadership presence starts with awareness of how you show up.
Posture and Body Language - People notice how you appear and carry yourself through your body language. If you look bored, they assume that is how you actually feel. Body language should be a conscious form of communication.
Good posture, awareness of your surroundings, and maintaining eye contact signal confidence and attentiveness.
Slouching, crossing your arms, or looking distracted communicates disinterest or discomfort.
Energy and Engagement - You cannot only look the part. You need to make people feel your engagement. The best leaders create engagement and enthusiasm by how they connect with others.
Lean into conversations.
Listen actively.
Bring energy to their interactions.
Tone and Clarity - The way you speak matters. Others will pick up on how you present yourself when participating in a group discussion. When you speak, people listen…if you have something of value to add.
Avoid rambling.
Project your voice so everyone in the room can easily hear it.
Don’t hesitate. If you have something important to say, say it.
And if you have nothing to add, agree and move on. You don’t always have to have a unique point of view on every topic.
Knowing when to speak is as important as knowing when not to speak.
Clear, intentional speaking conveys confidence and composure.
Confidence and Credibility
Presence is built on confidence and credibility (often referred to as “gravitas”). You cannot establish presence without demonstrating knowledge and competence. You need to know your stuff. A well-prepared leader who understands their subject matter and can answer questions with authority will naturally project a stronger presence. Your confidence in knowing the facts and thinking it through ahead of time will help you stand out. People notice when a leader is at ease versus when they are unsure. Conversely, people will begin to realize when you don’t really know what you are talking about. Trying to fake it will only erode trust and diminish your ability to influence outcomes.
Your subject matter expertise creates confidence in others that you are well versed in the topic, but it should also give you confidence in speaking to it. Note that confidence is not the same as arrogance. Knowledge in support of your subject or the discussion at hand will come through clearly. Arrogance comes from believing you know more than everyone else and are not interested in learning from others.
Being prepared, ready to engage, and listening to others (and then having ongoing dialogue) conveys your confidence in your information and your ability to learn new things, contribute further, and build greater success.
Authenticity: The Key to Presence That Resonates
Presence isn’t about trying to be something different or acting like someone you’re not. Leaders who try to imitate others often come across as inauthentic or forced. Align your presence with who you are. You don’t have to be the loudest voice in the room to have presence. Quiet confidence is just as powerful, and often more so, as an energetic leadership style. Remain consistent. Others will struggle to connect with the real you if you show up in wildly different ways in formal versus informal settings. People want predictability, and that carries a lot of weight in how they measure your presence. Finally, stay engaged. Being authentic in how you show up allows everyone else to do the same. Showing you value staying engaged and being authentic will enable them to contribute more because they feel seen and heard.
Leadership presence isn’t something you either have or don’t have. It is something you develop, refine, and improve over time. Start by paying attention to how you show up. Be mindful of what your presence is communicating today and what small changes you can make to strengthen it. As strange as it may sound, jotting notes about this can help you review and commit to making changes for the future. This can be especially helpful a day or two before a big meeting or presentation. Depending on your role and where you are in your organization, that may look a little different for you, but the principle remains the same. An impactful moment for you may be a weekly meeting with your second-level leaders. Or, it could be on a district or regional call. Regardless of the situation, you can practice how you show up and be intentional about what you want to convey through your presence alone. Your leadership presence is a skill, a mindset, and a silent communicator that you can leverage to help contribute at the highest level.
In the next article, we’ll explore how to build on these foundations and strengthen your leadership presence through specific, actionable steps.
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