# 402 | Executive presence explained: the mindset shift that transforms you from wallflower to leader

An episode of [The Art of Speaking Up](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1436888741), 17 Feb 2026, 25 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2630838/episodes/19505532-402-executive-presence-explained-the-mindset-shift-that-transforms-you-from-wallflower-to-leader.mp3

Executive presence is arguably the #1 skill that gets you promoted in your corporate job - but no one explains what it actually means or how to build it. In this video, I break down the Leadership Identity Triangle: the 3 mindsets that either shrink or amplify your executive presence in the room. If you're tired of being overlooked despite doing great work, this framework will help you develop the presence that gets you noticed, respected, and promoted. You'll learn: • Why executive presence has nothing to do with saying the right words • The 3 mindsets you can adopt in meetings (and which one gets you promoted) • The psychological shift that transforms you from wallflower to leader Want my help building this confidence? Join the waitlist for The Art of Speaking Up Academy: https://jessguzikcoaching.com/academy/

## Transcript

[0:00] SPEAKER_00: Executive presence is one of the most confusing phrases in the corporate world.
[0:06] SPEAKER_00: Your boss or leaders around you will tell you that you need to improve your executive presence, but they won't explain what that actually means.
[0:16] SPEAKER_00: Today, I want to demystify executive presence.
[0:20] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to teach you what it is, how to get good at it, and how it can help you grow more quickly within your company.
[0:28] SPEAKER_00: If you're new here, welcome to the Art of Speaking Up podcast.
[0:32] SPEAKER_00: I'm Jessica Guzzick, and I am here to help you build deep confidence and communicate fearlessly so that you can feel unstoppable as a leader.
[0:43] SPEAKER_00: If you're a longtime podcast listener, you might have noticed that the format of my episodes is different.
[0:50] SPEAKER_00: This is because I have an exciting announcement.
[0:53] SPEAKER_00: The Art of Speaking Up podcast is officially now a YouTube video podcast in addition to an audio show.
[1:08] SPEAKER_00: We have retired the jingle for the podcast, but in its place, you are now going to be able to watch all future episodes on video in YouTube, which I am so excited about.
[1:21] SPEAKER_00: And now let's start with the definition of executive presence.
[1:25] SPEAKER_00: If there were two people in a room and they both were similar age and similar to one another in general appearance, but one of them was an intern and one of them was a CEO, and you didn't know who was who, and you had to guess who the CEO is based on their communication style, executive presence are all of the little clues that you would be looking for to try to figure out, okay, who's the intern and who's the CEO.
[1:56] SPEAKER_00: So you'd probably pay attention to who seems like they're in charge, who's talking more, who's being more assertive, who sounds more sure of themselves, who is taking up more space in the room.
[2:08] SPEAKER_00: All of those things add up to this intangible quality of executive presence.
[2:16] SPEAKER_00: Now, when people start working on executive presence, a really common approach people take is they think to themselves, I just need to learn the right words to say.
[2:26] SPEAKER_00: If I can express myself in a way that is crisp and polished, that is going to elevate my executive presence.
[2:34] SPEAKER_00: And while it's true that the words that you say impact how much credibility you have when you speak, executive presence comes from something much deeper than just saying the right words.
[2:47] SPEAKER_00: If it was just about saying the right words, then everyone would just memorize those words and it would be easy to get good at executive presence.
[2:56] SPEAKER_00: The reason that it's hard is because it comes from something deeper.
[3:00] SPEAKER_00: It comes from your identity as a leader.
[3:04] SPEAKER_00: And that is what I want to help you with today.
[3:08] SPEAKER_00: The stronger your leadership identity is, the stronger your executive presence will be.
[3:15] SPEAKER_00: The way that I'm going to teach you this is I'm going to share a framework that I created.
[3:20] SPEAKER_00: It's called the Leadership Identity Triangle.
[3:25] SPEAKER_00: This triangle is comprised of the three different mindsets that you can adopt when you are in the room.
[3:34] SPEAKER_00: And depending on which mindset you adopt, that is going to impact your executive presence.
[3:40] SPEAKER_00: The three mindsets on the leadership identity triangle are number one, prioritizing yourself.
[3:48] SPEAKER_00: Number two, prioritizing others, and number three, prioritizing the business.
[3:56] SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to start with prioritizing yourself.
[3:59] SPEAKER_00: When I say prioritizing self, what I mean is when you are in a work meeting, you are prioritizing you.
[4:08] SPEAKER_00: In other words, most of your mental attention is going towards thoughts like, I want to sound good, I want to look good, I want to appear smart, I don't want to sound stupid, I don't want to embarrass myself.
[4:21] SPEAKER_00: You're in a headspace of prioritizing how you appear in the room.
[4:27] SPEAKER_00: Now, if you identify with this, no shame, no judgment.
[4:32] SPEAKER_00: This is such a normal human response, especially if you're in a situation that feels uncomfortable or feels intimidating.
[4:40] SPEAKER_00: When I was in my nine to five career and I was really struggling with confidence, I was fully consumed with prioritizing myself.
[4:49] SPEAKER_00: All I could think about was I need to make sure not to do something that causes me total humiliation.
[4:56] SPEAKER_00: And all of my attention was flowing towards that goal.
[5:00] SPEAKER_00: This is a very normal and human response.
[5:03] SPEAKER_00: And it does impact your executive presence.
[5:07] SPEAKER_00: When you're thinking about how you appear in the room, this is usually going to result in you speaking up less because you're being highly selective about what you share.
[5:18] SPEAKER_00: You're not going to share anything that would be too edgy or innovative because you don't want to accidentally embarrass yourself.
[5:24] SPEAKER_00: You're not going to ask questions because you don't want to unintentionally look stupid.
[5:29] SPEAKER_00: And also because your attention is focused on how you appear, you're not paying as much attention to the actual conversation, which means you limit yourself in terms of the quality of the contributions that you can make in the room.
[5:44] SPEAKER_00: This is going to impact your executive presence because that lack of active, deep participation means that people aren't really going to see the real you showing up and leading and speaking up powerfully in the room.
[6:01] SPEAKER_00: And this can impact your professional reputation.
[6:05] SPEAKER_00: When it comes to your professional reputation, I always think about it as executives and leaders at your company are talking about you behind your back when you're not around.
[6:14] SPEAKER_00: And I always think about the sentence, Jessica is blank, or whatever your name is.
[6:20] SPEAKER_00: And your reputation is what they fill in the blank with.
[6:25] SPEAKER_00: Now, if you don't have that strong executive presence and if you're prioritizing yourself and not really participating powerfully in the room, they don't have anything to put in that blank because they haven't seen your executive presence.
[6:40] SPEAKER_00: They haven't seen you step up and lead in those work conversations.
[6:45] SPEAKER_00: Now, when they don't have anything to put in the blank, typically what happens is that blank will get filled in with things like hard worker or highly committed.
[6:57] SPEAKER_00: Jessica's the one who always over-delivers.
[7:00] SPEAKER_00: She's always willing to take on more projects.
[7:03] SPEAKER_00: And you start to develop that hard worker reputation, which makes it difficult to advance because companies are incentivized to keep hard workers in middle management.
[7:14] SPEAKER_00: This is why when you get stuck in the trap of prioritizing yourself in meetings, you might over the long run find that it's difficult for you to distinguish yourself and get promoted within your organization.
[7:28] SPEAKER_00: Now, luckily, there are other approaches you can take that will be more effective for your growth and for your professional reputation.
[7:36] SPEAKER_00: So this brings me to the second part of the leadership identity triangle, which is prioritizing others.
[7:46] SPEAKER_00: Prioritizing others is when your focus in the room is making sure that everyone around you is happy and content and that your presence in the room isn't disturbing anybody or isn't bothering anybody.
[8:02] SPEAKER_00: You'll typically have thoughts like, I want to be respectful.
[8:06] SPEAKER_00: I want to respect the hierarchy.
[8:08] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to overstep or step on someone's toes.
[8:12] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to take up too much space.
[8:14] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to speak when there are others in the room who have many more years of experience than me.
[8:20] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to come off as an entitled, know-it-all millennial.
[8:24] SPEAKER_00: These are all thoughts that reflect the approach of prioritizing others.
[8:30] SPEAKER_00: This was a big trap that I fell into in my corporate and nine-to-five career.
[8:35] SPEAKER_00: I was really afraid of conflict.
[8:36] SPEAKER_00: I was really afraid of the hierarchy.
[8:39] SPEAKER_00: So when I would go into meetings where that hierarchy was present, a big part of my mental energy was focused on don't disrupt the hierarchy, don't make anyone mad.
[8:51] SPEAKER_00: Don't do anything that would cause conflict or tension or frustration in the room.
[8:56] SPEAKER_00: And for me personally, when I was prioritizing others, it was also coming from this belief that everyone else was better than me.
[9:05] SPEAKER_00: They are smarter, they are more eloquent, they know more than me.
[9:10] SPEAKER_00: I am worse than them.
[9:11] SPEAKER_00: So therefore, I should make myself small so that there is lots of room for them to make themselves big.
[9:20] SPEAKER_00: This thought process typically leads you to be a wallflower in the room.
[9:25] SPEAKER_00: You're in listener mode.
[9:26] SPEAKER_00: You're not proactively guiding the conversation or sharing ideas or challenging what's being said.
[9:33] SPEAKER_00: You are giving the floor to others.
[9:36] SPEAKER_00: This shrinks your executive presence.
[9:38] SPEAKER_00: You're not taking up space.
[9:40] SPEAKER_00: You're not showing people that you're there to lead.
[9:43] SPEAKER_00: And because of that, people start to see you as submissive and compliant and agreeable.
[9:52] SPEAKER_00: And I know as women, our culture tells us that we're supposed to be submissive and compliant and agreeable, unuseful, but especially unuseful in a corporate environment where you are trying to get noticed and develop a reputation as a leader.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: Remember, I shared this idea of filling in the blank.
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: Jessica is blank.
[10:20] SPEAKER_00: I want you to imagine leaders and executives saying, Jessica is agreeable.
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: Jessica is polite.
[10:28] SPEAKER_00: Jessica never challenges me.
[10:31] SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I feel like Jessica is ready for the next level of leadership.
[10:37] SPEAKER_00: No, we can see how it doesn't work.
[10:39] SPEAKER_00: We can see how those things don't go together.
[10:42] SPEAKER_00: And this is really important to realize.
[10:44] SPEAKER_00: When you take the approach of prioritizing others, it tends to create that reputation of agreeability and politeness.
[10:53] SPEAKER_00: And while it might feel good on some level to know that people think of you as agreeable and polite, it doesn't help you get noticed, recognized, and promoted as a leader.
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: Now, something that I want to point out is that prioritizing self and prioritizing others might sound like opposite approaches, but they actually reinforce one another.
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: When you're prioritizing self, you're thinking, I don't want to embarrass myself.
[11:23] SPEAKER_00: When you're prioritizing others, you're thinking, I want to make sure they have enough space and they get the floor.
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: And these mindsets reinforce one another.
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: By giving other people the floor and deferring to their thoughts and opinions, you get to avoid taking the risk of looking silly or embarrassing yourself.
[11:47] SPEAKER_00: It's therefore very common to use prioritizing others as a justification for not speaking up in the room.
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: And it can feel like, oh, I'm being so generous, I'm letting other people have the floor.
[12:02] SPEAKER_00: When really, beneath the surface, that generosity isn't pure generosity.
[12:08] SPEAKER_00: It's coming from a desire to stay quiet and safe and avoid the risk of being judged.
[12:14] SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to emphasize that this is a normal way that all humans try to navigate the inherent anxiety and scariness of having to speak in a room that feels intimidating.
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: So there's nothing wrong with you if you do these things.
[12:32] SPEAKER_00: I just want to make sure to offer you new ways of approaching being in the room so that you can have the executive presence that will get you noticed, respected, and promoted as a leader.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: And that brings me to the final part of the leadership identity triangle, which is my favorite part.
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: And this is where you are prioritizing the business.
[12:57] SPEAKER_00: So you're not prioritizing yourself, you're not even prioritizing the other people in the room.
[13:04] SPEAKER_00: You are prioritizing the company that you work for.
[13:08] SPEAKER_00: When you are prioritizing the business, your main focus in the room is helping to get results for your organization.
[13:18] SPEAKER_00: So you are thinking things like, I am here to help.
[13:22] SPEAKER_00: I want to help us get results.
[13:24] SPEAKER_00: I want to get to the best possible outcome for the business.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: These thoughts are going to lead to very different behaviors in the room.
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: They will lead you to speak up more.
[13:37] SPEAKER_00: They will lead you to share innovative or edgy suggestions.
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: They will lead you to challenge other people when you see a better path forward.
[13:46] SPEAKER_00: And they will lead you to ask questions and get messy and get in the conversation.
[13:52] SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, your executive presence magnifies.
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: People can feel it when there's someone in the room who is there to get it done.
[14:03] SPEAKER_00: Those people tend to be more respected.
[14:06] SPEAKER_00: And over time, what you'll notice is whenever people in the room feel stuck, they'll turn to that person because they know that that person is always the one who is ready to get in there and solve problems.
[14:20] SPEAKER_00: When you take this approach in the room, your reputation as a leader grows dramatically because people see that you are not just willing to participate and take up space, but you are willing to fight for outcomes.
[14:38] SPEAKER_00: And I really want you to think about how valuable it is to an organization when they have someone who is not just smart and not just hardworking, but who is willing to fight to make it happen, who is willing to push for the best possible results.
[14:56] SPEAKER_00: Those individuals make the best leaders.
[14:59] SPEAKER_00: They are the most promotable within an organization.
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: Because when organizations promote people to those leadership levels, it's no longer about working hard behind the scenes.
[15:12] SPEAKER_00: It's about having the ability to lead a room full of people towards a result, even when things get hard and even when things get messy.
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: And when you have that mindset of prioritizing the business and you walk into the room determined to help create results, that is exactly what you do.
[15:34] SPEAKER_00: And that behavior helps your company see that you are ready for bigger leadership.
[15:41] SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to the fill-in the blank exercise.
[15:45] SPEAKER_00: When you take that approach, people will say things like, Jessica isn't afraid to challenge me.
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: Jessica is always pushing us towards the best results.
[15:56] SPEAKER_00: Jessica is always committed to driving progress in the room.
[16:01] SPEAKER_00: Jessica is ready for that next leadership position.
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: So I really want you to see how your mindset in the room impacts your executive presence and how that executive presence impacts your reputation, which then impacts how quickly you get promoted within your company.
[16:24] SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to share some insights about the three parts of the leadership triangle because these insights will help you apply what I am teaching you in today's episode.
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: So let's recap the three parts of the leadership identity triangle.
[16:41] SPEAKER_00: There is prioritizing yourself, prioritizing others, and prioritizing the business.
[16:47] SPEAKER_00: Now, when it comes to your executive presence, I want you to think about it as you have a finite amount of attention and focus in the room.
[16:57] SPEAKER_00: So if 100% of your focus is on prioritizing self, you don't have any focus available for prioritizing the business.
[17:09] SPEAKER_00: What this means is that if you want to start prioritizing the business, you have to let go.
[17:15] SPEAKER_00: You have to let go of prioritizing yourself and making sure you never sound stupid.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: You have to let go of prioritizing others and making sure other people around you are always happy.
[17:28] SPEAKER_00: You have to be willing to start to let go of those goals so that you can allocate some of your focus and attention towards prioritizing the business.
[17:38] SPEAKER_00: Now, this can feel emotionally scary.
[17:41] SPEAKER_00: Prioritizing yourself and prioritizing others can function as a psychological security blanket.
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: It makes you feel safe and it makes you feel like you're going to be okay in a room that might feel a little bit scary and a little bit intimidating.
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: So the process of pivoting towards prioritizing the business means that you have to let go of these sources of psychological comfort.
[18:10] SPEAKER_00: This is typically where people get tripped up and why I see people getting so stuck when it comes to finding their voice and growing their executive presence.
[18:20] SPEAKER_00: They start by thinking, okay, I want to go in the room powerfully.
[18:24] SPEAKER_00: I want to contribute and be a voice in the conversation.
[18:29] SPEAKER_00: But what they haven't accounted for is in doing more of that, they have to let go of that previous source of psychological security that they were holding on to.
[18:42] SPEAKER_00: So you get into the room and you fully intend to speak up and make your voice heard.
[18:49] SPEAKER_00: But as soon as you imagine doing that, you feel deep discomfort because all of a sudden you're thinking, what if I look stupid?
[18:57] SPEAKER_00: What if I step on someone's toes and this turns out poorly?
[19:01] SPEAKER_00: And then those feelings pull you back into the old pattern and you feel stuck and you ask yourself, is something wrong with me?
[19:09] SPEAKER_00: Why is this so hard for me?
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: And the answer is just that there's another step that you have to account for.
[19:15] SPEAKER_00: In addition to accounting for the step of wanting to speak up and be more vocal, you also have to account for the step of letting go of those sources of psychological comfort.
[19:26] SPEAKER_00: You have to be willing to practice growing your internal emotional stamina.
[19:34] SPEAKER_00: You have to go in knowing that this new behavior of prioritizing the business and being more vocal is going to feel hard.
[19:44] SPEAKER_00: And I am going to have to practice pushing through that hard feeling until eventually it stops being hard.
[19:54] SPEAKER_00: The cool thing is though, this process of pushing through that moment of, oh my gosh, don't speak up.
[20:01] SPEAKER_00: What if you sound stupid?
[20:03] SPEAKER_00: When you push through that and say, no, no, no, this is the work.
[20:07] SPEAKER_00: This is what I have to do in the room.
[20:09] SPEAKER_00: When you watch yourself do that, you leave the room thinking, oh my gosh, I am capable of handling so much more than I've ever given myself credit for.
[20:21] SPEAKER_00: Not only am I capable of speaking up in a room that is intimidating and challenging for me, but I'm also capable of powerfully navigating through the fears and discomforts that come up when I have to let go of those old ways of operating that kept me safe and comfortable.
[20:44] SPEAKER_00: And you begin to feel powerful.
[20:47] SPEAKER_00: You begin to feel really strong inside.
[20:49] SPEAKER_00: You leave the meeting on a high thinking, wow, I just did something really hard.
[20:55] SPEAKER_00: And that creates a virtuous cycle where it then becomes a lot easier to do it again because you walk into your next meeting with a new identity.
[21:06] SPEAKER_00: You're no longer the person that is stuck keeping quiet.
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: You're the person who is strong enough to push past that old pattern.
[21:14] SPEAKER_00: And as your confidence grows through doing that, you start to want to prioritize the business.
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: Instead of walking into the meeting thinking, oh my gosh, speaking up is so scary.
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to do it because I might sound stupid or upset someone.
[21:30] SPEAKER_00: You walk in thinking, I'm so excited to help.
[21:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to solve this.
[21:36] SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to make an impact.
[21:38] SPEAKER_00: You are so focused on the business that you're not even thinking about sounding stupid.
[21:44] SPEAKER_00: You're not even thinking about stepping on people's toes.
[21:48] SPEAKER_00: And you'll notice that people around you who have really strong executive presence, they have that quality.
[21:55] SPEAKER_00: They're not thinking of themselves.
[21:57] SPEAKER_00: They're not thinking at all, how do I sound?
[22:00] SPEAKER_00: They're focused on the goal and the problem that sits in front of them.
[22:04] SPEAKER_00: And they're hungry to solve that problem and achieve that goal.
[22:08] SPEAKER_00: And the people in the room can feel that hunger.
[22:11] SPEAKER_00: And that hunger is what causes people to respect you.
[22:16] SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, I want you to practice pivoting from prioritizing self and prioritizing others to prioritizing the business.
[22:27] SPEAKER_00: Don't put pressure on yourself that this has to happen overnight.
[22:32] SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about it as little reps of practice that are going to accumulate over and over to gradually help you feel not just more comfortable in those rooms, but more eager and more excited to be a leader in those rooms.
[22:49] SPEAKER_00: If you want me to guide you through this transformation, this is the work that I do with my clients inside of my program, The Art of Speaking Up Academy.
[22:59] SPEAKER_00: First, I help you grow your self-confidence so that you have the courage to let go of prioritizing yourself and let go of prioritizing others so that you can show up as someone who speaks up and prioritizes the business.
[23:18] SPEAKER_00: And I help teach you the language of prioritizing the business, how to frame your contributions, how to speak up effectively, so that as you are speaking up more and more in the room, you know how to frame your thoughts and ideas in a way that is highly persuasive and highly compelling.
[23:38] SPEAKER_00: This combination of working on your inner confidence plus learning the language of leaders and learning how to effectively advocate for the business is what makes you unstoppable.
[23:51] SPEAKER_00: If you are ready to develop the confidence and voice that will get you the recognition that you deserve within your organization, I want to invite you to add yourself to the Art of Speaking Up Academy wait list by clicking the link in the description box or in the show notes.
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: Once you join the wait list, you will get an invitation to enroll early.
[24:14] SPEAKER_00: This means that you will secure your spot in advance and you will qualify for exclusive wait list only bonuses.
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: The bonuses rotate, but the current bonus is a private one on one session with me, included complementary in your enrollment.
[24:34] SPEAKER_00: Add yourself to the wait list by clicking the link in the show notes or in the description box.
[24:39] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here.
[24:41] SPEAKER_00: I had so much fun recording this, and I'll catch you next week.
[24:45] SPEAKER_00: Bye.

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