Elevating Your Voice in Executive Meetings (New Executive Series 2/4)

For many new executives, speaking up in high-stakes meetings, especially with more senior or influential audiences, can feel daunting. The fear of saying the wrong thing, being judged, overshadowing others, or disrupting the established dynamic often holds people back. Yet holding back can be just as risky. Staying quiet may limit your visibility, dilute your influence, and cause you to miss critical opportunities to contribute meaningfully and shape the conversation.

Let’s explore barriers to speaking up and actionable strategies to overcome these challenges.

1. Introverted Style.  Introverts often prefer to observe and process information before sharing their thoughts. While this approach can bring valuable insights, waiting too long might mean missing the window to share altogether, especially in fast-paced discussions.

Strategies to Overcome:

• Prep with Purpose: Take time before the meeting to think through the purpose, key outcomes, and crucial decisions. Drafting talking points, including pros, cons, and recommendations, to clarify your perspective in advance and anticipate any potential concerns.

• Leverage Timing: Aim to contribute earlier in the meeting when ideas are still forming, even if it’s to ask a clarifying question. This signals engagement and builds momentum for your voice.

2. Fear of Looking Foolish.  The inner critic pipes up: What if I say something wrong? What if I don’t sound like I belong in this room? What if what I say doesn’t resonate? This fear keeps many smart, capable leaders from contributing.

Strategies to Overcome:

• Shift from Fear to Possibility: Thought leader Susan Jeffers, in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, advises reframing discomfort as a doorway to growth. Speaking up opens new opportunities silence never will.

• Own Imperfection: Brené Brown’s research highlights that vulnerability is a strength. Even if your idea is not perfect, contributing shows courage and commitment to the team.

3. Everything Has Been Said.  When others seem to cover the key points, it may feel unnecessary—or even self-indulgent—to add your voice. However, your unique lens remains valuable.

Strategies to Overcome:

• Shape the Flow: According to Adam Grant in Think Again, contributing early not only increases your visibility but also gives you the chance to influence the conversation.

• Enrich the Dialogue through Questions: If your key points have been addressed, ask a thoughtful question that deepens the discussion or offers a new angle. Questions demonstrate active listening and intellectual curiosity.

4. Deference to Experienced Leaders. Being new or less experienced can spark self-doubt when surrounded by seasoned executives. But your fresh perspective is an asset, not a liability.

Strategies to Overcome:

• Leverage Newcomer Insight: As Harvard Business School’s Frances Frei and Anne Morriss explain in Unleashed, newcomers often bring fresh perspectives unclouded by legacy thinking. Use this to your advantage.

• Frame Your Voice:  Use language like “From a different angle…” or “Building on what’s already been shared…” to position your input as additive rather than disruptive, reinforcing collaboration while contributing your unique insight.

5. Nerves and Overthinking.  Anxiety can lead to second-guessing, or, once you start talking, rambling. Neither helps your message land with clarity.

Strategies to Overcome:

• Practice Conciseness: Jot down key points in bullet form before you speak to stay focused. Aim for clarity and brevity.

• Breathe and Pause: Slow, deep breaths and deliberate pacing can help calm nerves and ensure your message lands effectively.

When You Do Speak: Add Value with Intention

When you do contribute, focus on adding value to the conversation. Here are four powerful ways to do so:

1. Share an Informed Perspective

• Align with Business Priorities: Highlight how your points connect to both short-term and long-term business goals.

• Take a Systems View: Discuss how ideas impact other departments, stakeholders, or the broader organization.

• Offer Industry Comparisons: Share insights from within or outside your industry to provide context and innovative solutions.

2. Ask Strategic Questions.  Questions can:

• Clarify others’ thinking.

• Identify hidden challenges or opportunities.

• Guide the conversation toward actionable outcomes.

3. Take a Facilitator Role.  If the conversation becomes chaotic or stuck:

• Summarize key points: “Here’s what I’m hearing…”

• Propose structure: “Should we park this item and revisit it later so we can cover the rest of the agenda?”

• Propose action: “What feels most important to move forward, and who will take the lead?”

4. Champion Others. Acknowledging and building on others’ ideas fosters collaboration and trust. For example: “I really appreciate Jim’s idea because it prioritizes our stakeholders in innovative ways.”

·       Amplify Contributions: Echo and expand on valuable ideas by connecting them to broader goals or providing additional context.

·       Recognize Effort: Highlight when someone’s contribution moves the conversation forward. For example, “Susan’s suggestion provides a clear path for addressing this challenge effectively.”

Silence might feel safe in the moment, but it’s a missed opportunity to build your reputation, influence decisions, and create meaningful connections with colleagues. By preparing, practicing, and shifting your mindset, you can make your voice heard and elevate your presence in executive meetings.  Your voice is your power—use it to lead with confidence.

Quote of the day: "Speak Your Mind, Even If Your Voice Shakes.” – Maggie Kuhn

Question of the day. What steps can you take to reframe fear of speaking up as an opportunity for growth and connection? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

The next blog in this series 3/4 will focus on the importance of roadshows to make your team’s work more visible.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with new executives to sharpen their leadership skills contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you add value in meetings?

How Is Your Executive Presence?

The term executive presence can be vague and mean different things to different people, like the concept of leadership.  Is it about how you show up by what you wear, how concise and convincing you are in meetings, how great you present, how much credibility you have, or how strong your decision-making and strategic thinking skills are?

When you ask a group of managers who aspire to the C-suite what it takes to get there, they invariably mention executive presence, even if they may not be clear on what it means.  In a survey conducted by Coach Source, Dr. Brian Underhill shares that from a manager’s perspective, 42% of people who seek a coach want to develop their executive presence.

So, what are these “make or break” factors in considering whether to promote somebody into the upper leadership rank?  Executive presence is not just about one or two factors, such as how you look or dress, but about the whole person.  It may seem like some people either have it or not, but they likely worked hard to achieve it, and it can be developed with intention.  Executive presence, or I would extend the concept to also include leadership presence is about inspiring confidence in others because of character, capabilities, and reliability.  These leaders can handle complex and unpredictable situations, make tough decisions quickly, and hold their own with talented and strong-willed team members.

The Bates Executive Presence Index, a research-based, scientifically validated assessment measures executive presence according to 3 big categories: character, substance, and style.  I’m going to borrow aspects of that framework and include my categories based on commonalities from clients I’ve coached on this topic.

Components of Executive/Leadership Presence:

1. Character.  Arguably one of the most important is about the personal traits and values that define you.  Two key components include:

·      Integrity - Acting authentically, transparently, sincerely, and in accordance with your actions and beliefs.  You live up to ethical standards because you care about doing the right thing for yourself and others, even when it is unpopular.  You are credible, trustworthy, professional, dependable, and know how to keep your promises.

·      Humility - Part of being humble is being self-aware – you have a good sense of your strengths, weaknesses, and the impact that you want to make.  At the same time, you know you do not know it all, so you seek out diverse perspectives and feedback, you listen inclusively to others, and you believe that all people have worth regardless of title or position.

2. Substance.  This relates to depth and overall maturity and can be split into practical wisdom and emotional intelligence.

·      Practical Wisdom – Having those hard skills and competencies in getting the job done.  You also exercise good insight, judgment, vision, strategic thinking, and collaborative skills in bringing teams and stakeholders aligned and along with you as you achieve results.   

·      Emotional Intelligence – You show calm and balance when under pressure because you know how to manage your own emotions.  You do not have erratic and unpredictable outbursts or become emotionally unhinged when you clash with others or receive pushback on your ideas; instead, you use your emotional strength to understand the situation better.  You are also attuned to others’ emotions because you listen, ask questions, factor in other perspectives.   You show care and build great relationships because you can read the room, receive data, and make pivots to fit the moment better.

3. Style – This is about how you present yourself and how others see and experience you quickly, if not immediately.  It is the first impression.  Two critical aspects include presence and effective communication.

·      Presence – This is more than the right clothes, firm handshake, eye contact, or voice projection; it is about exuding confidence, being calm in hectic times, and adapting your demeanor to serve the situation better.

·      Effective Communication – Relates to talking with intentionality.  You are clear, brief, direct, and speak with authority.  You do not bog others down with the details or open the floodgates and blast them with information; you know how to get to the bottom line swiftly.  You use your communication to empower, inspire, and bring out your best.  That may entail providing a forum where others feel safe, expressing themselves, asking questions, and feeling stretched in their growth because of your high expectations in their development and support. 

Like many intangible leadership traits, these skills can be grown, especially if you have a baseline level of self-confidence and a willingness to deal with unpredictable situations that come with the territory at the executive level.

Let’s jump into some things you can do to develop executive presence:

1. Skill build.  Understand where you want to go, assess your starting point with your current skill set, determine the new proficiencies you will need, and pick one capability to grow.  You can raise your awareness by reading about it and then practicing the skill.  Perhaps, you want to begin with style and specifically your public speaking.  You want to stand and deliver confidently, clearly, and concisely to large groups, answer questions effectively by maintaining curiosity and not becoming defensives, and handle pressure calmly.  You can start with the headline, provide some more details, and hold space for others to jump in with questions, then go deeper on topics that interest them.  Being comfortable with releasing some control means that they can drive the conversation, and you can handle whatever comes your way.  Speaking in shorter bursts is helpful because it is more of an exchange and not a lecture.

2. Get support from others. You can work with a coach to get clear on who you are, what you want to work on, what it will take to work on it, and be held accountable along the way.  You can also work with advocates, managers, peers, colleagues, mentors to let them know that you are actively focusing on this one thing.  If they have tips or suggestions and can be mindful of sharing feedback when they see you doing the behavior, you can gain their support for your growth.  Receiving helpful feedback from them can allow you to adjust along the way.

Expressing your executive presence is unique to each person.  You make an impression through the values you bring to the organization, the results you deliver, the way you connect, and how you communicate your points.  It is a worthy skill to invest in because it can lead to more career advancements and opportunities.  When you lead with character, substance, and style, you can positively influence and inspire greatness in others. 

Quote of the day: “How you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication), and how you look (appearance) count for a lot in determining your leadership presence.” -CEO Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Q: How do you define executive presence?  What’s one essential feature of it?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to help develop their executive and leadership presence, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you show up? Is it the way you want to?