The Friday 411
How to Spot the Hidden Rules of Executive Presence
October 2, 2026
Welcome to Friday 411, issue #163. In 4 minutes, with 1 insight and 1 action, you'll name what your company actually rewards instead of guessing at it.
1 Insight
Executive presence has no meaning until a company says what they mean by it.
One of the best parts of our job is the privilege of working with many different companies, with an insider's view on how they operate. One company’s executive presence may look like whitewashed jeans, expensive boots, and a plain polo with a logo on it. Walk in wearing a suit and you look like you do not belong.
Another may be white button-downs or blouses, pressed slacks or skirts, and polished black shoes. Both companies value executive presence. Neither one means the same thing.
The Problem With Two Words Nobody Defines
In the two examples above, we only mentioned clothing, but executive presence is more than that. The “more” is what makes it so confusing. You are told to work on your executive presence, and nobody can tell you what it means.
Ask ten leaders to define it, and you will get ten different answers. Poise, gravitas, likability, the way somebody carries themselves or interacts with others. Most of the time what you really get is a shrug and some version of "you know it when you see it."
We hear it used in ways that would surprise you. One leader told us a manager lacked executive presence because he "sounded too southern." We wondered if his executive presence would be commended if he had a British accent?
Another said that one of his high potentials lacked executive presence because she got nervous presenting in a room full of people. Is natural public speaking ability the be-all, end-all to what makes a good leader?
Realize it or not, there is some standard already being used on you. One leader we talked with put it plainly: "I was never given a list. I had to learn it by watching what my executives did and who they promoted." He had been measured for years without a clue of the standard he was measured against.
What Executive Presence Actually Is
Here is the definition we use, and it holds up in every building we walk into.
Executive presence is the combination of the values and beliefs your company esteems, the attitudes they want you to demonstrate, the style they want you to show, and the tendencies they expect from the people they promote.
We call those four your VAST.
1. Values and Beliefs
What your company holds to be true, and what they expect you to uphold to be true along with them.
2. Attitudes
How they want you to show up—maybe optimistic, urgent, humble, hungry, unbothered, etc.
3. Style
How they want you to present—dress, speech, energy, humor, how formal you are.
4. Tendencies
How they expect you to operate—push back or fall in line, move fast or move carefully, lead through tasks or through people.
Executive presence is your company's answer, often unspoken, to those four.
This is a Competence issue, one of the 7 traits of Unleashed Leadership, which is good news. Most leaders think Competence only covers knowing your craft. Reading what your company rewards is part of the craft. It is a skill you can build, not a verdict on who you are.
The Same Four Categories, Two Opposite Answers
Go back to the two companies from the top of this post.
At the jeans and boots company, the values are hard work and loyalty, and leaders never act like they are better than the crew. People get promoted there for staying late when a manufacturing line goes down and for knowing the names of everybody on second shift.
The attitude they reward is steady and calm, and the fastest way to lose ground is to get anxious when something breaks.
The style is casual, real, and plain talk.
The tendency is self-reliance, to solve problems on your own and only ask for help after you have tried a few times. We watched a sharp young manager there get labeled "not leadership material" because he asked for help with problems fast, which is the exact behavior his last company promoted him for.
At the button-downed company, the values run toward purpose and deference to the person above you. People get promoted for volunteering before anybody asks and for reciting the company's purpose word for word.
The attitudes they reward are agreeable and eager, and the quickest way to stall out is to push against the CEO's ideas.
The style is uniform and conformist, white shirt, nondescript pants, nothing standing out or different.
The tendency is to support the plan in public and raise your concerns privately, if you raise them at all. A leader we worked with there had every skill the job required but never moved up. She asked too many questions in rooms where questions get read as insubordination.
Same four categories, very different answers. Every company has it’s own definition of executive presence. A leader who sits at the top of the ladder at one company would get labeled "not ready yet" at another. And nobody may be able to explain why.
Write Down Your Company's VAST
Your company's definition is knowable. It is just unwritten.
The fastest way to find it is a simple question: who at your company gets recognized for things other than performance?
We call it the Golden Child Question. Every company has that person. They are not always the top producer, but everybody knows their name anyway. Picture them, then answer four things about them.
• Values and Beliefs — What do they believe?
• Attitudes — How do they act when the pressure is on?
• Style — How do they dress and present themselves?
• Tendencies — How do they operate when a decision has to get made?
What you just wrote is your company's real definition of executive presence. Not the one in the handbook, but the one they actually reward.
Once you can name all four, feedback stops being vague. You can see where you already match what they want and the one or two places you do not. It's up to you if molding to what they reward is worth it.
1 Action
Take five minutes to answer the Golden Child Question about one person at your company, then use what you wrote to fill in all four for yourself.