Most leaders love to be strategical, problem-solve and talk about resources, yet hate dealing with people problems. Relationships and people are messy, touchy, and intangible.
However, author Diana Jones has discovered that real leadership presence results from "blending personal experiences with professional identity." She explains that having presence is about changing your behaviour by integrating your emotional responses with your thinking and the actions you take. The process is holistic, irrational, and illogical.
In the book, “Leadership Material: How Personal Experience Shapes Executive Presence”, Jones offers practical guidance for leaders to improve their ability to read people and produce results through relationships. The key is that leaders with presence know how to differentiate and choose which elements of their personal self to share each day.
Working exclusively from their professional identity is unwise. Without actively choosing their personal qualities, leaders are seen as faceless bureaucrats. The relationship between personal qualities and professional presence is precisely what creates your identity as a leader. In fact, the 'soft side' of leadership - empathy, compassion, and authentic communication derived from personal experience - is both powerful and essential to enhancing leadership presence, influencing others and achieving results.
Theoretically, the distinction between leading and managing is this: Managing relates to maintaining the status quo and results; leading relates to creating an organisation's future and taking people with you.
Reference: Diana Jones: Leadership Material: How Personal Experience Shapes Executive Presence
