Hello and welcome,
My name is Kevin Parker,
I'm a mindfulness meditation instructor and leadership and executive coach in organizations.
The intention of this practice is to help executives and leaders build out their executive presence.
Some scenarios where this can be helpful are while giving presentations to a large group with key stakeholders present,
Stepping into networking events,
Managing up to leaders in your organization.
Let's drop into the practice.
Within this practice today,
I've identified a few markers that I think can be helpful in building out our executive presence.
We use visualization as well as short mantras to build out,
To reinforce and embed at a deeper level these traits,
These qualities that tend to reflect executive presence.
I'm going to ask you to begin to call up into your mind's eye a picture frame of yourself.
Within this first picture frame,
See yourself trying less and being more.
Trying less and being more.
Perhaps even saying to yourself several times,
As I step into this meeting,
As I step into this presentation,
I will try less and be more.
I will try less and be more.
What this points to for us is that we can have more confidence in ourselves,
In the skillfulness that we possess,
And not try so hard,
But trust in ourselves.
I'm going to ask you now to sequence to another picture frame of yourself.
See if you can begin to see yourself being very measured and precise with your words.
Again,
Maybe you're giving a presentation,
Maybe you're stepping into a high stakes meeting.
See yourself being measured and precise with your words.
Perhaps even saying to yourself several times,
I will be measured and precise with my words.
I will be measured and precise with my words.
Nice work so far.
I'm going to ask you to pull up a third picture frame in your mind's eye.
Within this picture frame,
Recall a time where you felt extremely confident and skilled.
As you see yourself in that moment again,
Feeling confident,
Feeling highly skilled,
Pull together a short phrase,
Repeat it to yourself a few times,
Perhaps saying to yourself,
I will feel confident and skilled in this presentation.
I will feel confident and skilled in this high stakes meeting.
Say it to yourself a few times.
Do the reps to embed it at a deeper level within,
So that it's reflected more often within your work,
Within your life.
And then a final picture frame,
Pull it near mind's eye when you were performing at a high level,
Leading with impact in your organization.
And as you recall,
Perhaps some moments where you have been performing at a high level,
Pull together a short phrase to reinforce that.
Something to the effect of,
I'll continue to feel good about how I perform and lead with impact.
We will begin to transition to close out this practice to build out our executive presence.
I invite you to take in a deep breath in through your nose,
Out your mouth,
Fully and slowly as you're ready,
Breathing in.
As you release the breath,
If your eyes are closed,
Feel free to begin to open them.
And as you open your eyes,
Prepare to go forward.
I encourage you to be very intentional about leveraging a practice like this on a daily,
Weekly basis to build out your executive presence.
