Presence-Developing a Critical Success Factor

Presence can launch your success and can also give you the power to rise up when faced with difficult moments. Passion, confidence and enthusiasm (presence) are critical whether we’re talking in front of two people or five thousand; interviewing for a job; asking for a raise; speaking up for ourselves; or speaking up for someone else, we all face daunting moments that must be met with poise if we want to feel good about ourselves and make progress in our lives. Presence gives us the power to rise to these moments.  Presence is not only special success factor that can drives resonance and results.  It is not only one of the strongest predictors of successful startup funding, but it may be the flame that lights the fire of personal, professional and business success.

In her book, Presence, Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy reveals how to  heighten your confidence, influence others, and perform at your peak by developing presence. Have you ever left a nerve-racking challenge and immediately wished for a do over? Maybe after a job interview, a performance, or a difficult conversation? The very moments that require us to be genuine and commanding can instead cause us to feel phony and powerless. Too often we approach our lives’ biggest hurdles with dread, execute them with anxiety, and leave them with regret.

By accessing your personal power, you can achieve “presence,” the state in which you stop worrying about the impression you are making on others and instead adjust the impression you have been making on yourself. As Amy Cuddy’s insightful book reveals, you don’t need to embark on a grand spiritual quest or complete an inner transformation to harness the power of presence. Instead, you need to nudge yourself, moment by moment, by tweaking your body language, behavior or  mind-set in your day-to-day life.

There’s a good reason why we put their faith in people with presence (passion, confidence, and enthusiasm); the traits that define presence cannot be easily faked.  Think about it, when we’re feeling confident, our vocal pitch and amplitude are more varied, allowing us to sound expressive and relaxed. But when we’re trying too hard to fake these things, our vocal cords and diaphragms tend to constrict, causing our voice to come out all squeaky.  And it’s not just our voice that gives us away. When our “fight or flight” trigger goes off, chemicals in our bodies might cause us to go red in the face, break into a sweat or even squirm in our seat.

How can you develop greater presence?  A great way to start is by watching this video summary of Presence by Amy Cuddy, Ph.D by The Business Source

Do you want to get motivated and inspired?  Transform a people-centric leadership, business development, communication or career challenge into an advantage?  Transform an area of personal challenge into an asset? Build sticky coaching, training and mentoring initiatives? Take action now. Find out how we can help.

Just Coach It.  Empower-Engage-Transform
Irene  Becker, Founder and Chief Success Officer, Just Coach It
Coaching•Consulting•Workshops•Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™
irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene   irene@justcoachit.com 
Tel:  Irene’s Assistant Drew Jones: 416-737-5075 drew@justcoachit.com