We're gonna go ahead and get started. And my session today, building executive presence to advance in leadership. So this is me. I'm I go by Carrie.I have a PhD in communication and, back in 2018, founded with a couple of other researchers, vocable communications. So we saw this incredible wealth of knowledge in the research on communication that was the way that we do our own work as researchers and what we teach in university classes. We realized that there's a whole world beyond the university where these insights could be really helpful for business, for nonprofits, for appointed and elected officials, and we decided that we wanted to go into business to bring this really research backed, insights, behavioral insights about communication to the community.

So today, what we're gonna talk about is the communication behaviors that you can practice to elevate your executive presence. And what I mean by executive presence is I I called it in the the description for my talk special sauce that you add to your knowledge and and skills to achieve leadership success. So knowledge and skills that we accumulate through practical training, through higher education, on this job experience, all of that provides us with the necessary conditions for leadership, but it doesn't necessarily get you noticed or promoted or advanced into leadership. And the reality is that people have to believe that you will be a good leader to get those opportunities. And the thing that makes people believe you will be a good leader is is how you communicate. So even if you have all the expertise in the world, if you can't share that effectively, people are not going to believe that you are leadership material.

So in this session today, we are gonna do some on the spot training right now with these research backed insights that I have as a PhD researcher and as a professor and as an experienced speaker, and you're gonna leave this section session with a parting gift, which is gonna be practical behaviors, a little bucket that you can take with you and apply in your work and in your life.

So let's start with this. Think about this question for a moment. Feel free to add to the chat if you'd like. What makes someone a good leader? How do you know someone is a good leader? They have the ability to listen. They're decisive. Good. Empathy, someone you want to follow. Warmth and competence, they advocate for others. Love that one. They're approachable. How they react to difficult situations. They're encouraging, enabling, inspirational. Amazing. Good. So a lot of these things are going to come from experience, right, or maybe even be things that people are born with or things that people gain through, a biography that can be really complicated. Leadership I mean, cultivating the right skills for leadership can be a lifelong pursuit. Now here's a different question. What makes others see you as a leader? Some of the answers that you already gave will work here. Right?

So the speaking with confidence piece, the ability to listen, the advocating for others, all of those are actually communication behaviors. And the truth is, you could have the best ideas, the most empathy for other people, the most interest in others, And if you can't communicate those things, people are never going to understand that you can be a good leader. But if you can, if you can use those communication behaviors, doors will open. So as a communication researcher, I have gathered together with my partner what we call a rubric, a really clear formula for what behaviors make audiences, other people see someone as executive, see someone as a leader. And I've worked with women in technology either within financial firms who work in a tech function or in technology companies for the last seven years, and I have watched this work, people who already had the goods, then being able to communicate in these ways, being able to communicate their executive presence, and watched how it's elevated their career.

So if you do these behaviors, people see you as a leader. When that happens, you get new opportunities. You're trusted to take big swings, which can lead to big victories, which then lead to promotions, or change of job. You can call it fake it till you make it or communicate for the job you want rather than dress for the job you want, whatever you wanna call it. If audiences see you as a leader, it really leads to an increased chance that you can become one, if that's the path you wanna take. So let's talk about this formula or rubric as we call it. It starts with connection. So there's a lot of data on this inside communication research and spanning all kinds of different disciplines, but it starts with the basis that humans are social animals.

The thing that mattered the most to us evolutionarily speaking, and that still matters today is our connection with other people. Being a part of a tribe is not something that's optional. It's actually the way that historically people were protected, protected from the elements, protected from others. And even today, we know that there are medical correlations between the social connectedness that a person experiences, and how long they live, and how much disease they face later in life. Connection is the basis of who we are as human beings, and this is absolutely true in communication as well. I like to say you're never just speaking. Right? We think of, oh, I have this thing I have to go do. I have to give a speech. I have to have a talk with my leader or with one of my direct reports, But you're never just speaking, you're always speaking to someone.

And considering who that someone is and how you can highlight, bring to the surface, and emphasize what connects you is the very most important thing to do in connection or sorry, in communication. It is the basis. I like to think of the metaphor of growing a plant. Plants grow from seeds. So if I have seeds, I can grow a plant. Right? I can just take my seeds and toss them on the concrete, and I'll have a plant. Well, of course not. If I toss seeds on concrete, I've just wasted a bunch of seeds, and they could have been great seeds. What I actually have to do is prepare the soil. I have to make sure that it is deep enough and rich enough that it's fertilized and watered in order for the place that those seeds land to allow them to take root. All connection all communication must start with connection because connection is the fertile soil where whatever information it is that you have to communicate is going to land.

So what does that mean? Well, I like to think about it with the tribe metaphor. How do you show other people that you are in the same tribe, that you're on the same side? Now, when we think of the term tribal, maybe politics comes to mind, but even there, you can see that this is true. The same data point that's delivered to a partisan by someone on their same side is a lot more likely to be accepted than that exact same data point presented to a partisan from someone on the other side. We call that confirmation bias. So it's actually really important when you're about to communicate with someone that you communicate and foremost, we are in the same tribe. So what does that mean? Finding things that you have in common, Finding ways that you can emphasize the values that you share is a really good one.

And if you're talking to someone that you don't know particularly well, well, then actually, you need to ask some questions so you can find what the points of connection are. You have to oh my god, Debbie. Your vibe attracts the tribe. I love it. That's the t shirt that we need to make based on this session. So how do you find that point of connection that's gonna communicate that you're in the same tribe? Questioning. So you can use questions before and during communication with people. You can ask others. If you don't have a lot of research about someone, do a little audience analysis, and find what are the points of connection, what are the things that you both care about that you know get them excited, that you authentically care about as well, then that is what you're going to emphasize when you start off your communication.

Think about this as leaders make others feel seen and heard. Right? If you are going into any situation with connection you are going to appear as a leader because the other person goes, oh, wow, they get me. They understand this part of my biography, or they understand this thing that I care about, and they share that value, right, or they have that commonality with me. So by making others feel seen and understood, you are showing your leadership. So now it's time for you to do your little piece of work. I've got some activities planned for you today. Grab, a piece of paper or you can type if you'd like to, but I want you to jot a few things down.

And it's important that you keep this throughout the session. We'll talk about it at the end. So think about a speaking situation that you have coming up soon. It can be something big, a town hall. It can be a weekly meeting. It can be a one on one. Anything that you know you're gonna have to go and use some communication to achieve a goal, maybe get somebody to align with you on something, maybe you have an actual ask, maybe you just want to, sort of build a connection with someone, grow a relationship. But think about that upcoming speaking situation. And now think about the audience that matters in that situation. So if you're doing a town hall, and there's gonna be 2,000 people there, there's a lot of audience members, not all of them are gonna require you to do a bunch of research and think about how you can connect. But what's the audience that matters most? And if you're just talking to one person, you've already got that sorted.

Now jot down on your piece of paper, what are some potential points of connection? What are some things that you have in common? What are the things that they care about that you also authentically care about? And particularly, what relates to the topic at hand, the issue that you're gonna be discussing? How can you foreground connection How can you emphasize we're in this together? We're on the same side. We're in the same tribe. Collect your notes about that. Just a few words so that you can come back to it, and then we'll go forward. Okay. Feel free to keep writing if you need to. We're gonna talk about point two in this rubric, which is painting a picture with language. Now just as much as humans are tribal creatures, storytelling is also key to what it means to be human.

Storytelling is how we make sense of the world around us. It's how we understand how to feel about the things that we encounter. And historically, of course, stories have been the way that we've communicated to one another, and especially the way that we've learned. If you can make something into a story, it gives people the opportunity to sort of sit back and experience rather than being down in the muck with you, which you can imagine for persuasion is a really important thing. If you can get somebody to sit back and enjoy the show like they're at the movies instead of having them argue with you about every point, then you're gonna be better at persuading them. So storytelling is really important, but in technical situations, it can be hard to figure out how to use storytelling. I know this intimately. I'm right now teaching a graduate course in data storytelling at the University of Notre Dame in their master of data science program.

And in that program, I created a case study where they create a machine learning a machine learning algorithm for breast cancer. So they have to breast cancer diagnosis. So they have to find a way to present to an audience of potential doctors who might wanna use this machine learning algorithm, how they should, understand it. Now they they shouldn't be showing their decision trees to the doctors. Right? They need some sensitivity data, some specificity data, but they don't need to get into the weeds when they're talking about how the algorithm is gonna help doctors diagnose breast cancer. Instead, they need to tell a story that connects to what matters to the doctors. So the way that we do that is through the use of metaphors and analogies. So using an explanatory metaphor is a really interesting way to contribute a little story that sort of lights up the brain, makes people excited, allows them to connect a technical insight to something that they know really well, and helps nontechnical audiences understand what you're talking about.

Explanatory metaphors are key to all all kinds of different communication, but I'll give you an example that I've encountered in my coaching, data compliance. Right? So keeping keeping the right data and getting rid of the wrong data, the data that you're not supposed to be keeping a hold of, can be a real slog. People in different functions don't always understand why they should be paying attention to data compliance. Nobody wants to do it. It's like getting your teeth cleaned. Yeah. It's a hassle. It can be a bit painful. It seems unnecessary, especially if you're brushing your teeth and flossing, but really, you haven't been so good about flossing. And dental health can affect not just your personal health, but also your relationships relationships. A dental cleaning helps you spot and prevent some pretty serious things like gum disease or even cancer, and that's a great metaphor for cleaning up your data.

It can impact other people's ability to do their job, and if there's a data breach and you weren't deleting data properly, it can affect the bottom line of the business. So if you can relate data compliance to something that everybody understands they need to do, go and get their dental cleaning, all of a sudden, you'll find that you get a lot more out of it. You'll get a lot more alignment. You'll get a lot more understanding, and, ultimately, the people who don't see the real need for data compliance are gonna be willing to do it, because they don't have to understand dentistry to know they need to get a dental cleaning. The metaphor does an enormous amount of work. It does the heavy lifting. So leaders are engaging so that the audience can relax. We don't want our audience doing a lot of work.

We want to be able to show them why things matter, and a central explanatory metaphor is a really great way to go about that. So we've got connection find a way to show that we're in the same tribe, and then take some of the the heavy lifting off of the audience, and give them an explanatory metaphor. Okay. Go back to your speaking situation that you have coming up. So you've been thinking about the audience, what you have in common, how you can connect. Now, think about the topic that you need to be discussing, and what's a good metaphor or analogy that would work really well. Maybe it's not medical, although medical metaphors are wonderful because everybody has a human body and probably has had to deal with being sick. Also, I like to use automobile metaphors because, at least in The United States, most people experience using or driving an automobile frequently.

Things that lots of people can connect to and that are very familiar are great ways to pull up a metaphor that will help everybody understand. You're gonna paint a picture with your words by connecting your topic, your issue, to something else as a metaphor. So take a few moments and jot that down. What will work for your upcoming speaking situation? What's a metaphor that you could use? Just for those of you who are keeping score, the cat, Sassy, is sitting almost entirely on the mouse. So she's with us and very engaged. The more detailed your metaphor, the better. So having little details that seem seemingly sort of unnecessary will make the metaphor very rich. If you talk about what a pain it is to take off work to have to go to the dentist and how you hate the gritty feeling of the polish that they use at the end, As long as you can tie it back to your topic, that'll be really helpful.

Alright. So last, we're going to talk about perspective. It's absolutely normal and easy to get bogged down in the day to day slog. The meetings that we have to get through, the reports that have to be done, all the minutiae of our day to day. But the truth is leaders keep a focus on the big picture. They have to. If you're the CEO of a company, it's your job not just to think about the minutiae, but think about where the company's heading, the long term vision, the strategy. What that means for you, if you're gonna be an executive speaker, if you're gonna show your executive presence through your communication, is that you have to now incorporate some communication behaviors that show that you have vision, Right? So it show that you understand the long term.

So if you talk about things in a way that how a specific initiative fits into a long term goal of an organization, or how some practice matches agreed upon mission or values, that means you're talking like a leader. So you have to explain the big why. This is difficult when we're already focused on the day to day, but what can happen is, if you sit down with your day to day and you think, gosh, I've gotta get somebody to accept process x, you then have to stop and ask yourself why. And the answer, the why is probably gonna be a little bit more abstract, a little bit higher level, and you're probably not done. They need to accept process x because it will help us do y. Why do we need to do y? Right? You keep asking yourself why just like a toddler. Right? Every time you think you've got the answer, ask why again until you get to a why that you know that your audience values. Back to connection.

What does your audience care about? Do they care about mitigating risk? Do they care about long term success? Do they care about shareholder value? Find your way to the big why, and that and communicate that when you're talking about your specific issue. See, leaders see things from a 10,000 foot view. What that means for your executive presence is, even if you know the person you're talking to understands the big why, and you understand the big why, you still have to say it. Because in saying it, you communicate to them, hey, it's not just you who knows the big why. I see it too. So I coach clients all the time to talk in a way that's visionary and long term to their leaders. And I often get the feedback, oh, I don't know. That's their job. And we're back to dress for the job you want. If they see you as an executor, that's great. You're a good soldier.

That's what they hired you for. But if they see someone see you as someone who shares their vision, shares the understanding of the long term, then you're no longer a good soldier. You're someone who needs to be up in leadership, right, someone who needs to be a captain or colonel directing traffic. Alright. So think back to your speaking situation now. Think about the big picture perspective. Ask yourself why a couple of times. Is it about money? Is it about risk? Is it about long term success? Is it about sustainability? What's a why that your particular audience, who you've learned how to connect with, is going to not only understand and appreciate, but something that they already care about.

So you're not having to convince them of something new, you're just having to convince them that your particular piece, whatever topic you're talking about, fits into the thing that they already care about, is a part of the strategy they're already committed to. So just take a moment and get that piece. Root cause analysis tool. That's amazing, Eleni. Yes. What's the what's the root cause? Or in this case, what's the root value? What's the thing that we both believe that we can serve? Alright. So as you finish that up, giving yourself some notes for your big why, I'm gonna share with you that you have just created some speaking notes for yourself. Twenty minutes ago, I asked you to think about an upcoming speaking situation where you were going to have to reach some goal speaking to some audience, and then we went through the three parts of the rubric for executive presence. So you thought about a way to connect, how you can show the audience that you're gonna be talking to that you're on the same side.

This, by the way, is an amazing way to forestall the kinds of bickering and resistance that often come with persuasion. If you can create that fertile soil, if you can convince your audience just that you are on the same side, it will save you so much trouble when you're actually presenting your perspective or your information. Because remember confirmation bias, if we're in the same tribe, I'm more likely to accept what you have to say. you thought of a central metaphor to explain your issue, something that allows your audience to sit back and relax, something that makes explaining the thing that you're talking about as clear as knowing you need to go get your dental screening. And lastly, you thought about the big picture framing to put it in perspective. Now this is a great little rubric for persuasion. Right? We could just have a session where we're talking about how to convince others to take your advice and connecting, having a central metaphor, and then putting it in the big picture would all just work for persuasion.

But the way that you went about this persuasion and creating your speaking notes is actually the way that a leader does. So you're going to go into the speaking situation, not only communicating in a persuasive way, but communicating in an executive way, not just providing obvious or or easy to digest evidence, but providing your own credibility alongside your argument, because the audience is going to see, this person is a leader because I feel seen and heard.

This person is a leader because they make things easy to understand, and this person is a leader because they keep the big picture in view. So along with the goal that you set out to do when you started thinking about these notes, the goal of being convincing in this speaking situation, you're also meeting the goal of showing your audience that you're leadership material.