LogFAQs > #980020329

I got promoted two years ago. My previous boss taught me a phrase: Executive Presence.

It means to put yourself in positions to be noticed by leadership so they think of you when promotion opportunities come up. This doesn't mean brown-nosing. It means not only working hard and putting out a quality product or service, but aligning yourself with the company's mission in such a way that you seem like the natural next supervisor, manager, or lead in your department.

Examples of executive presence includes looking at the dress styles of employees at the next level above you and try to incorporate it into your own style, volunteering for projects where leadership is looking for extra hands, leading specific projects that leadership deems a priority (and get them done), attending workshops, trainings, or conferences that build skills currently being valued by upper management (even better if you can attend the ones upper management go to), building a network within and outside your department of people that can count on you and therefore vouch for you to leadership, and take every opportunity to present something to leadership, whether through a live presentation, an email, or a written report.

The idea behind executive presence is to create an image of yourself that already appears to leadership as the next role up, where you seem like the obvious choice when the time comes.

This looks different for each industry. I work at a university and I did this per my boss's guidance, including upgrading my dress attire, attending the optional-but-open-to-the-public board of directors meetings every month, getting time with the president to pitch an idea I had (even though he didn't implement it, he was impressed that I came up with it), and just generally cooperating with coworkers on projects and tasks beyond my job duties, which ultimately raised my reputation within my immediate area.