Category Archives: Business

Vulnerable Self – The Power of You

As an actor, exercises in acting class or standing in front of an audience involve and invokes a huge sense of vulnerability. Letting go and trying something completely new or at least uncomfortable is scary and also exhilarating. I remember a ‘risk night’ exercise we had to prepare for an acting class. I was asked to present a classical ballet piece! Now I’m no mover, and I’m sure I looked ridiculous (I even bought long Johns to wear) but once I committed to it and let go I felt liberated and strangely, more confident. Not about dancing per se but within myself. I came face to face with vulnerability and felt courageous as I confronted it.

When we stand on stage in front of an audience it is daunting and we tend to focus on questions like “will the audience like me?” This translates to presentations, pitches, meetings and boardrooms, where the focus is often on ourselves. The question we need to be asking is “Do I really like or believe in myself?” My first acting teaching used to say “if you do not believe in yourself then it is doubtful anyone else will”. He would also add that doubts are normal, healthy even, though somewhere along the line the actor must grow and have faith in their own abilities. So, you need to know your abilities, you need to like yourself but also and fundamentally you must know and confront your flaws.

A famous acting teacher Uta Hagen wrote, “First you must learn who you are. You must find your own sense of identity, enlarge this sense of self, and learn to see how that knowledge can be put to use in the characters you will play on stage”. Of course in the ‘real’ world the character is you, your character, though I would argue that we do portray different versions of ourselves depending on the ‘stage’ we are standing on and the audience we are with.

We all have flaws or things we don’t like about ourselves and it is inevitable that at times we compare ourselves to others. It may be that we wish we had their charm, charisma, and way with people, presence. To achieve presence we need to achieve comfort in our own skin, that quiet confidence people exude when they are solid and secure in who they are and what they offer. It is not the “look at me” people who have a presence about them; in fact it is the opposite. What we are working towards then is to accept yourself with pride, the things that make you different, unique and special. It is how you feel about yourself that is important. Sometime actors with a powerful stage presence are said to bare their soul to the audience, which is the true essence of vulnerability and creates a powerful connection to the audience. We are not watching a character, we are seeing and feeling a human being, complete with emotions and flaws, and that vulnerability is the very thing that seems to attract an audience. Am I suggesting that you bare your soul and express your emotions at every possible opportunity? No, I am making the point that you have something to offer, flaws and all and it the combination of self acceptance and being your true self that gives you presence and the ability to connect with others. Wearing a mask is tiring, often or eventually obvious and on some level a barrier to connection.

Yakim Moni, in ‘Creating a Character’ says “Society has also set up psychological portraits of the ideal person and citizen whom you are encouraged to emulate. If you have been scolded as a child for being overly aggressive, overly withdrawn, overly emotional, overly trusting, then you may feel you are different, imperfect. Perhaps you retreated or covered up to prevent society from knowing your weakness and to protect yourself from feeling pain. As an actor you must look at yourself and into yourself. The work on the vulnerable self will help you uncover and dispose of layer after layer of concealing shrouds…without coming to terms with your flaws, real or imagined, the best in your talent is immobilised. Your ability to express yourself is blocked”.

The journey to building presence, then, starts with awareness of your faults and qualities, your ‘character’ if you like. The next step is how this character interacts with the rest of the world. This means working on your body, speech, mind, emotions and importantly, your behaviour. In the words of acclaimed acting teacher Stella Adler, you must say aloud “I am myself and I have my own standards”.

Special thanks to my Actors Showcase teacher Peter Stephenson Jones.

Why bother with (Executive,Leadership) Presence?

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Presence is important. We want it, we admire those who have it and intuitively we realise it’s a damn useful quality for success, in life and career. But why and how and who says? Isn’t hard work and ability enough? That’s certainly part of the success equation and I’ve come across some research recently which puts presence firmly in the formula for success. The Center for Talent and Innovation ran a survey and 268 senior executives identified executive presence as essential to getting ahead. “In fact, executive presence accounted for, on average, 25% of what it takes to get promoted. The study’s revelations were gleaned from 18 focus groups, nearly 4,000 college-graduate professionals and 50+ one-on-one interviews with high-level executives”. The Key findings were:

Executive presence accounts for 26% of what it takes to get the next promotion, according to senior executives
Gravitas — confidence, poise under pressure and decisiveness — is the core characteristic of EP, according to 67% of the 268 senior executives surveyed
Communication telegraphs you’re leadership material, according to 28% of senior executives
While only five percent of leaders consider appearance to be a key factor in EP, all of them recognize its potential for curtailing or derailing talented up-and-comers. Notable appearance blunders, not surprisingly, are unkempt attire (83% say it detracts from a woman’s EP, 76% say it detracts from a man’s) and, for women, too-tight or provocative clothing (73% say it detracts from a woman’s EP).
Sounding uneducated proves a tripwire (59% say it detracts from a woman’s EP and 58% say it detracts from a man’s)
Women and multicultural professionals tend to struggle with EP due to intrinsic tension between conforming to corporate culture and remaining true to oneself. 56% of people of color feel they are held to a stricter code around EP, compared with 31% of caucasians; 36% deliberately recast the way they tell their stories, compared with 29% of caucasians.
For both women and people of color, feedback on EP can be hopelessly contradictory—which may be why 81% say they’re unclear as to how to act on it.

So it’s worth working on your presence and there are certainly clear components to focus on which have been further explored in my other articles. Importantly, presence can be developed and there is a strong case for doing so.

Whats so good about role play?

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Working with actors in role plays and simulations gives people the opportunity to practice a skill, situation or scenario which is as close as possible to what they are dealing with in the ‘real’ world. They are an excellent tool to put models and theories into practice, trying them out in a safe environment and getting self insight and feedback as to what works and what needs to be adapted. It also takes the fear out of facing potential difficult situations, as they are played out first in a simulated environment. To get the best out of role plays the actors need to be briefed on the learning outcomes and also any background information relevant to the case, as this adds realism and credibility. The extent to which this is required flexes depending on the scenario and can be minimal if the focus is on represented behaviours. The key is for the actors to be able to improvise in the moment, taking on the information and behaviours assigned to the ‘character’ and situation they are playing out then flexing in the moment depending on how the simulation is playing out and being driven by the participant. Scenarios can also be acted out between the actors to demonstrate effective or ineffective behaviours, with the participants giving input into what they would do differently. Forum theatre takes this to the next level as participants jump into the ‘hot seat’ and taking over from one of the actors and dealing with the scenario themselves. The actors are trained to give feedback, particularly in terms of the impact the participants behaviour or approach is having on them. The most effective role plays are facilitated by the person running the workshop to ensure program specific feedback and outcomes. Small groups better enhance comfort levels amongst participants and allow for more practice and feedback from the role player, facilitator and group.

Characteristics of Presence

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In my previous article on Presence, we explored what presence actually means and whether it can be learned and developed. Now we’ll look at the characteristics of presence and then why these need to be developed.

Executive or Leadership presence is often vaguely referred to as gravitas, someone that can hold the room, or has a certain ‘something’. It’s also often confused with charisma. In my article ‘Presence’, we broke it down into skills, character and behaviour and the difference between short and long term presence. In simple terms the three pillars of presence are:

How you act ( gravitas)
How you speak (communication)
How you look (appearance)

The Executive Presence Group sums this up beautifully – “The core characteristics of Executive Presence are: the ability to project confidence, to have poise under pressure and be decisive, to be authentic, to be competent in your expertise and always show integrity in your actions. Also, communication — including speaking skills and the ability to read an audience or situation — is key, as is appearance. Executive presence also means having a clear vision and the courage to pursue what’s important. And lastly, being able to connect with people, read the room and be intelligent with your emotions — all of these contribute to a person’s perceived executive presence”.

Based on my own experience and research, I have broken Presence or ‘EP’ (Executive Presence) into four areas. There are of course crossovers between them. They are:

Values, character & personal brand
Interpersonal behavioural patterns
Presentation skills
Physiology & fundamentals of communication

Essentially the key to EP is knowing who you are, being that person and communicating this effectively to the rest of the world. Those that drop the masks and are comfortable in their own skin have confidence, integrity and the ability to connect with others.