Is a Lack of Presence Sabotaging Your Career?
If you're the kind of person who commands attention, admiration, and respect the moment you walk into a meeting or a social function, you're the very example of what's known as executive presence.
EQ Can Take You Past The Limits of Your IQ
While the concept of emotional intelligence isn’t new, it’s been gaining traction in today’s business world. When employers talk about the importance of “soft skills” and traits such as resilience and empathy, they’re actually describing components of emotional intelligence.
Although the word “intelligence” is part of emotional intelligence, the concept isn’t really connected to intelligence as measured by IQ scores. Your IQ (intelligence quotient) score is essentially a measure of your brain’s intellectual capacity. In theory, the higher your IQ, the more easily you can grasp complex subjects. As such, we assume that people such as nuclear physicists, neuroscientists, and mathematicians have much higher IQs than most of us.
In contrast, emotional intelligence (what some refer to as EQ) involves an assessment of your emotional capacity. It describes your awareness of your own emotions and your ability […]
Crush your TEDTalk with these 10 essential tips
One of our clients, Natalie Schneider, recently gave a TEDTalk about Innovation — going from zero to one.
Natalie is an amazing client, and this TEDTalk is the result of three sessions to craft the story and five grueling practice sessions. She practiced on her own about 24 times in between our last two sessions. Our last session was a dress rehearsal the day before the event, which was the first time she learned she had to stay on that little red carpet on a very large stage. She spoke before a 400-person audience, in which sat only 4 friends. The rest were complete strangers.
After completing this talk, we collaborated to create this article on 10 essential tips to crush your TEDTalk.
1. On the stage of the TEDTalk is a red dot. You’ve probably seen it as part of their branding. The red dot does […]
Martech Podcast Interview — Executive Presence & Why It’s Important
Ever wonder why some people get promoted over others despite the same level of work, preparation, or intelligence?
The reason often lies in something we call “executive presence.” It’s what helps you stand out in a crowded field of other top performers, and it accounts for more than 25% of what it takes to be promoted into leadership positions or get that next prime assignment.
Our Director of Public Speaking and Professional Presence, Alexandra Rufatto-Perry, was featured on the Martech interview series to speak about executive presence and why it’s important for marketing professionals. Alexandra and her CEO, Ellen Dunnigan, work as professional communications coaches with executives in a variety of industries to help them say what it is that they need or want to say, while looking and feeling their confident and influential best.
Want to find out more about executive presence and why […]
Speak Like an Executive
Presenting to busy company leaders and clients requires us to shift our style of speaking from “details and conclusion” to “executive summary”. In a traditional Executive Summary in a business case, business plan, or white paper, the writer presents the key findings (or the conclusion or the “ask”) in the very first line of the document, followed by the salient facts and details — only the salient details. This is also the perfect guideline for your spoken word with busy executives.
Busy company leaders and client executives have little time and patience for details — and, really, they don’t need all of the details because those details are typically your job, and they count on you for that. Executives won’t and can’t take the time for a long […]
Turn Up Your Influence with Science-Based Executive Presence [Infographic]
Ever wondered why some people get chosen or promoted over others despite the same level of work, preparation, or intelligence?
According to Deborah Gruenfeld of Stanford University, people make judgments about our competence within milliseconds. How do you prove yourself as competent and professional in that sliver of time?
It turns out there’s much you can control in how people experience you, even as you pass them in a hallway or stand in line for coffee. Scores of scientific studies have consistently pointed to three elements of “Executive Presence.”
3 Core Elements of Executive Presence
In short, Executive Presence hinges on three factors: Style, Substance and Character, accounting for more than 25% of the likelihood you’ll secure a prime assignment or leadership position.
- Style: Includes how you look, how you carry yourself, how you sit at the table, your gestures, movement, and how you sound; in essence how you say what you need or […]
Top Six Communication Skills for Negotiation
Negotiation is how we form partnerships and strategically place ourselves and our businesses in the right direction for growth and success. Because negotiation skills are important in every aspect of business, Accent On Business has a few tips on how to effectively communicate and negotiate with potential partners, clients, and colleagues while improving your executive presence.
Changing What Your Customers Think of You
Recently, the CEO of an IT company approached one of his disgruntled customers with a simple message: “I know you’re unhappy with our customer service over the past few months. I imagine you’ve developed some rather negative beliefs about us and I’m here to find out exactly what those beliefs are, so we can change them.” After the surprised customer delivered a detailed description of her beliefs and the experiences that had created them, the CEO surprised her again by saying, “These are not beliefs we want you to hold, so we’re going to create a whole new set of experiences for you—experiences that will lead to brand new beliefs about us.” The audience was a little befuddled at the kind of customer engagement the CEO was executing.
For the next several minutes the CEO discussed the protocols of Prosyn, a cyber security firm that he knew intimately, he spoke […]
Invest in Your Future! Improve Your Communication Skills
Uh oh, it’s happened again. You’ve been able to avoid it for the last 3 years. Now here it is again…the dreaded presentation. Ever been in one of these situations?
- You’ve been invited to make a key presentation at a Board of Directors meeting.
- Your dream job just opened up and you will need to interview for it.
- You have one single opportunity to have lunch with a prospective major account client.
- You have three months to prepare your 25th high school class reunion’s keynote address.
- You’ve been asked to fill in for a colleague in teaching a training session to senior management.
- Your company is in the peak of a crisis or incident and you need to speak about it live on television or on radio.
- You volunteered on a mission trip sponsored by a large company in your area and are […]
7 Tips to Quell Nervousness Before a Speech (That Don’t Include Jumping From the Window)
The fear of speaking in front of 5 or 500 people is shared by virtually everyone and cuts across all professions, social classes and leadership levels. There are lots of reasons why this fear wells up and seems to choke our confidence and vocal chords. But this blog post isn’t about the problem - it’s about the solution!