Britton Bloch, Vice President, Talent Acquisition Strategy and Head of Recruiting, Navy Federal Credit Union.
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Over the years I’ve spent mentoring others, a comment that’s been commonly shared with me is, “I’ve been told I need to work on my executive presence.” I’m highly allergic to this type of feedback. Years ago, when competing for an executive role, a panelist shared with me, “I’ll support you interviewing, but I don’t think you have executive presence. “ Ouch — not a great way to launch into an already intimidating process. But I landed the role, despite the nagging sound bite that haunted me.
Why did I land the role? I’d like to think it was because I was my authentic self and demonstrated thought leadership, expertise and influence. It begs the question: What is executive presence?
How you define executive presence depends on what is prioritized in the culture. Do you value culture-fit or culture-add?
My secret sauce has been title-agnostic swarming and recognizing high emotional quotient (EQ), adversity quotient (AQ), social quotient (SQ), grittiness, gravitas and courage. It involves inviting innovation through a safe space with diverse experiences, and rewarding fail fast/fail forward confidence while inspiring execution.
Being vertically agnostic (aka title agnostic) is a powerful approach to bringing dynamic perspective to projects, specifically, uncovering downstream impacts and unintended consequences. Inviting others in (note: not the hyper collaboration derailer) and experiencing the “aha” moments enables the creation of new approaches and elevates all perspectives in place of conventional pathways and one-dimensional, domain-specific knowledge. It serves as a channel to horizontally share strategic vision in order to create a climate of reciprocal trust, to enable fearless commitment to do what’s right, to encourage a culture of “one team” and to inspire courageous conversations.
The Q’s Are Critical
Leadership teams and project pods are comprised of IQ, EQ, AQ and SQ.
- IQ: Human intelligence and intellectual potential.
- EQ: “The ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.”
- AQ: Resiliency, flexibility, curiosity, courage and problem-solving skills.
- SQ: Intrapersonal intelligence and interpersonal intelligence enable sensitivity toward the moods, feelings, temperaments and motivations of others, and the ability to cooperate as part of a group.
The power of the Q’s fosters an environment in which diverse teams work collaboratively to solve problems, creating an atmosphere for ideas to emerge and flourish. It’s not “follow the leader,” but rather “let’s head in this direction, together” with a leader who effectively blends diverse teams by asking the right questions to generate thoughtful, manageable ideas and holding teams accountable for execution.
Model the way for grittiness, gravitas and courage. Executive presence isn’t savvy delegation — especially in functions that aren’t mature. It's being agile and showcasing the ability to pivot quickly from transactional to strategic. It's demonstrating passion and perseverance toward your vision despite significant challenges and delayed gratification.
People’s perceptions of leaders have currency, and it can either help or hinder them. There’s a tension between authenticity and conformity. Bias is incredibly infused in this tension. Gravitas goes beyond a leader’s suit, performance and expertise. It’s about influence, credibility, courage, decisiveness and impact. A compelling leader unlocks teams’ talents and inspires action by connecting vision, data and storytelling with charisma at a human level. Being both likable and admired isn’t an oxymoron.
The deal breaker? Being title-obsessed. Who you are at your core either attracts people to follow or repels them. In the past, a title meant acting a certain way to be congruent with the role (culture fit). However, departing from your authentic self is too great a gap and creates a disconnect — one that teams can sniff out immediately.
Authentic leadership is crucial to leadership (culture add). Leaders who are genuinely open and transparent, who are fully human, are leaders whose teams can truly know and with whom they can connect.
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
