Harnessing Garfinkle's 3x3 Presence Model
Executive presence is a blend of charisma, communication skills, and confidence that inspires trust and respect. It's that intangible quality that makes people believe in you as their leader and, ultimately, why they’ll follow your vision.
Joel Garfinkle is an expert in this field, and his 3x3 model breaks down executive presence into three domains, each with three essential qualities:
Gravitas: This refers to your confidence, composure, and ability to command respect.
Authority: This is about your decisiveness, strategic thinking, and ability to influence others.
Expression: This focuses on your communication skills, clarity of thought, and ability to share insightful ideas (I’ll discuss this subject in greater detail in my next post).
The first three pillars of the framework are:
Radiating Gravitas
Acting with Authority
Expressing Yourself Fully
Under each are three traits to focus on.
The first trait - Gravitas - focuses on projecting Confidence. This means regularly challenging yourself with new responsibilities and tasks.
Enhance your Charisma by practicing active listening, demonstrating genuine interest in others (their ideas, criticisms, etc.), and developing a strong personal brand.
Project command by maintaining composure in stressful situations (keeping your emotions in check), communicating with clarity and conviction, and dressing professionally. Nonverbal cues are important—
don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
The second trait - Authority - emphasizes decisiveness, boldness and conviction. You might be a great technician, planner, engineer, and thinker - but you’re now a leader of people.
Like it or not, you have to act the part.
This requires Decisiveness, which means making timely and confident decisions. You can be wrong and admit you were wrong, but don’t be in doubt. Your team can sense nervousness and fear.
If this doesn’t come naturally, seek a mentor or professional help. Leaders can’t afford to be wishy-washy.
Great leaders demonstrate Boldness. This is in the form of taking risks (calculated, of course) and initiating actions.
Lastly, demonstrate Conviction in your choices. Communicate with passion and belief. Think positive, act positive, be positive.
Remember, we are talking about how your teams and your senior executives see you show up every day.
The third trait is Acting with Authority.
Speak up. Over-communicate rather than under-communicate. Your teams do not need to be privy to all the reasons or thinking behind senior decisions, but they need to know you understand and believe in them.
By effectively voicing opinions and ideas, you demonstrate the qualities you expect in your team, and this will build trust when it is their turn to do the same.
Be insightful. Don’t avoid challenging situations or questions. Offer valuable perspectives. Look for solutions amongst your team and offer your own. This will create a strong sense of collaboration and ownership amongst your team.
When they feel ownership, work becomes important. And when it’s important, passion follows.
Lastly - Be Clear.
Express your thoughts concisely and articulately.
I highly recommend every leader take a professional speaking course. Dale Carnegie’s courses are timeless, valuable and insightful.
As you practice these traits, look for feedback. When you lead by example, exude confidence, and communicate clearly and effectively, your teams will want to emulate your approach.
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