Authenticity is One of the Fifteen Facets of Executive Presence

This article is one in a series focusing on Executive Presence and how leaders can meet their potential through improved communication. Executive Presence is defined by Suzanne Bates in her book “All the Leader You Can Be: The Science of Achieving Extraordinary Executive Presence” as “The qualities of a leader that engage, inspire, align, and move people to act… By understanding how your intentions as a leader match up with perceptions, you can learn how to flex your style to gain trust, build alignment, lead change, inspire performance, and drive executional excellence.”

This article focuses on Authenticity, one of the 15 facets that make up a 3-dimensional leader.

Click here to gain a greater understanding of (a) executive presence in general and (b) the other facets that make up a well-rounded leader.

What is Authenticity?

Bates describes Authenticity, one of the fifteen facets of executive presence, as “being genuine, transparent, and sincere in one’s relations and interactions with others.” People with a high level of Authenticity are willing to reveal who they are, even when doing so puts them in a vulnerable position. They are open and honest communicators and always operate within their values.

How Authenticity Makes People Feel

Authenticity is about telling the truth and being genuine, but it’s also about how doing so makes others feel. It’s important, for example, that others feel that you are genuinely interested in their perspective and that you are willing to take the risk to be fully yourself in their presence. Leaders with a healthy level of authenticity make people feel at ease with them, no matter how far apart they are on the org chart.

The feelings generated by Authenticity:

• I feel comfortable with you.
• I feel as though I can be myself around you, even when I make a mistake.
• I trust you to be honest and straightforward.

Not Enough Authenticity

When someone is lacking in Authenticity, they may

• Seem cold or disengaged
• Appear to distrust others and not be trustworthy themselves
• Leave others wondering who they really are or what they are hiding

Specific Behaviors to Improve Perceptions of Authenticity

Here are some behaviors and techniques you can use to ensure others have a favorable view of your Authenticity.

• Focus on communicating clearly and from the heart.
• Work to connect with people, especially through eye contact when face-to-face.
• Be empathic and express it.
• Be comfortable admitting when you don’t know the answer.
• Develop your ability to tell personal stories.
• Write in your own voice.
• Use greetings and closings in written communication that are consistent with your professional brand and appropriate for the situation.
• Use punctuation – and emojis, hashtags, etc., if you use them – that align with your personality, professional brand, and the situation.

Too Much Authenticity

When someone exhibits too much of a particular facet, it can become an overstrength. An overstrength often results in negative perceptions. For example, indicators that you have an overstrength in Authenticity include

• Oversharing information, especially personal information
• Appearing phony or insincere because you are so effusive
• Being described as “a bit much” or “extra”

A Story About Authenticity

Alexis has always been quiet and reserved. In school, she was happy to work alone and never enjoyed team projects. In the workplace, Alexis was very good at her job, always pleasing her managers with her thoughtful, methodical approach to every project. As a self-described introvert, engaging in small talk and office banter was never her thing.

When Alexis was promoted to a manager position, she approached her new job in the same way she had always approached projects. She created a solid plan for her team, explained what she expected to see, and left it to them to execute it. The problem, though, was that Alexis’s team was always a bit uncomfortable with her. She provided feedback and guidance that was useful, but the team never knew how she felt about their efforts. Was she pleased? Was her reticence a sign that she disapproved of their work or of them? Was she cold or just “professional?”

One of the people reporting to Alexis was Henry. Before her promotion, the two had been peers. Of all the people on the team, Henry knew Alexis best. A few months after Alexis’s promotion, a couple of other members on the team went to Henry and asked him for some advice about how to work with Alexis. They said she was hard to get to know, often leaving team members feeling a little uneasy, and was, as one of them put it, a tough nut to crack. They wondered what they could do to work with Alexis better.

When Henry heard this, he smiled and said he knew exactly what the team members were talking about. In her old position, he said, Alexis was known as “the quiet one.” Henry said that from what he had observed, they were doing nothing wrong. He also said he would have a friendly chat with Alexis.

When Henry and Alexis met, he said that he really enjoyed being on her team but had some feedback for her, if she was interested in hearing it. Alexis said, “Please. I feel like I’m floundering as a manager and don’t know what to do.” Henry assured her that she was doing a good job of managing the work the team did. The challenge he saw, though, was that the team didn’t always feel comfortable with her, that they weren’t sure where they stood with her. “You know I’m not very good at the personal stuff,” Alexis said. “Don’t think of it as ‘personal stuff.’ It’s more than that,” Henry said.

Over the course of the conversation, Henry pointed out that team members needed to feel at ease around her… get to know her. They needed to feel that they could have a genuine conversation with her. When the conversation ended, Alexis had a plan.

1. She would talk about what she was feeling about the team’s work, including her own.
2. She would let the team know something about her life outside of work and would show interest in their personal lives. She decided to start each weekly staff meeting by encouraging small talk, and since the meetings were on Monday mornings, people’s weekends, including her own, would be a great topic for the first few minutes.
3. When she was giving feedback to team members, she would take the time to explain her thinking. She wouldn’t just talk about what should be done, but why. In this way, the team would learn how she thinks, what she values, and how she approaches problems.

Very soon, the team’s sense of Alexis’s Authenticity greatly improved, and the team felt more collaborative. They even started looking forward to the staff meeting.

Some Facets Ride Together

Often, when we lean into particular facets (or pull back from them), other facets “come along for the ride.” With Alexis, we can easily assume that by allowing her authentic self to come out by showing interest in her team, perceptions of Concern, Resonance, Demeanor, Inclusiveness, and Interactivity will also show improvement.

Final Thoughts About Authenticity

Authenticity is in the Character dimension of the Bates model, which means that it is an aspect of our personalities developed early in life. Because it is a personality trait that seems to be built in from the very beginning, we sometimes don’t even think about it until someone points out that we’re particularly good at or lacking in it. This is why growing your self-awareness as you continue on your leadership journey is so important.

If you’d like to learn more or explore executive presence coaching options for yourself or your team, click here to schedule a call.