Three Moves To Transmute Your Leadership Presence

Where is your leadership energy aligning with how you want to show up as a leader?

I hear leaders say they want to make an impact. They want to be more present. They want to support change that helps their employees grow.

If I were to zoom in on three moments of your workday, taking today for example, what would I see?

This short exercise helps you to see how you're currently showing up and how your body has the answer on how to show up with more presence.

Imagine how it would feel to let the bright parts of yourself shine more often in your work and for your team. Imagine how it would feel to know your body was on your side, not just something you notice when it aches.

You won't learn how to have embodied presence by thinking about it. It's different from strategy. You can get it through embodiment work.

I've worked with body wisdom my entire career. First, when training actors at a professional theatre, then when working with senior leaders in transition, and now in the Career Stories Studio.

The leaders I work with are intelligent and successful, but their bodies aren't on board. They notice:

• That their heart races faster than they'd like at key moments,

• They lose their composure by raising their voice or hitting a desk harder than intended.

• They hold onto a conversation for so long and notice they've been clenching their fists for hours as they replay it in their mind.

All of these take away from you having the impact you want in your work. And your team and peers sense it. How you show up is what you are getting known for.

When I trained actors and we were close to performance time, their movements and expressions had to be so precise because any slight gesture could confuse the audience. It would cause the audience to question the realness and credibility of the information. They didn't learn this precision by stiffening up. Actors achieve this by working with their bodies to present themselves authentically on stage or screen.

These same practices help leaders expand their impact, presence, and influence.

The top leaders aren't digging into strategy and scripts to improve their impact. They are learning embodiment and intentional expression.

Here's a short practice (the actual practice will take about 3 minutes in the future) to help you become attuned to what your body is doing at work, allowing you to identify any incongruence between your ideal and actual leadership state.

I have dozens of other practices to support deepening your leadership presence and expression. Play with this one for a while first.

Enjoy!