Annie Croner:
Welcome to The Whole Assistant Podcast, where assistants come to embrace their badassery and discover how to show up more strategically for their careers, their executives, and most importantly, themselves. I'm your coach, Annie Croner. Join us as we dive into the skills, strategies, and mindset that will help you unleash your full potential. Let's go. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. I hope you're having a lovely week. I know I am. I started taking part Pilates classes with a reformer.
Annie Croner:
You guys, if you've ever taken a Pilates class with a reformer and the reformers like this little contraption that you work out on. I took my first class today and I unwittingly went to the front of the room. I thought I was in the back of the room, but that's not how they had the room set up. And it was hilarious. It was like they were speaking a whole other language. Anyway, health is top of mind for me. It's also a big priority for me in 2025, so I've planned on going a few more times. I bought a two week pass.
Annie Croner:
It's the promo that this particular gym has and so it'll be fun. But it was a workout this morning and hilarious. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall or anybody else in that class because me managing my reformer and managing myself on the reformer was hilarious. And I felt like I was a spoof of a Pilates class. Anyway, that's just kind of what's top of mind for me today. But we are talking all about executive presence and why executive presence matters. And I specifically chose that term executive presence for a reason. I chose it because a lot of us don't see ourselves on the same level as our executives.
Annie Croner:
And I'm a big fan of really kind of standing in your power and owning your choices and owning the room in a way. And so I know a lot of us can feel intimidated when talking about executive presence, but I think it's gonna help to kind of look at what executive presence actually is so defined. Simply. Executive presence is a mix of confidence, clarity, emotional intelligence and influence. Confidence, clarity, emotional intelligence and influence. But executive presence is not reserved for executives, and it's also not reserved for extroverts, for that matter. I know a lot of us are like, executive presence is not for me. I am introverted.
Annie Croner:
It's not anything I care to do. I don't mind being in the background. You can be in the background and still have executive presence. Okay. Because basically, there again, it's just Confidence, clarity, emotional intelligence, and influence. So here's why this matters for executive executive assistants. You are the face of your executive in so many ways. You're that bridge piece between your executive and the rest of the organization.
Annie Croner:
You are also the keeper of your executive's brand. What you do directly affects your executive's personal brand and also the company's brand, especially if you do a lot of outward facing, client facing, type duties on a regular basis. So this is why executive presence matters for us as executive assistants. Okay, when we have executive presence, when we have that confidence piece in place, when we have that clarity piece in place, when we have the emotional intelligence and influence in place, that presence means trust. It instills trust in the team, and it also instills trust in your executive with how you're going to handle things. It also lends itself to credibility and greater responsibility as opposed to shrinking back, as opposed to playing small. So executive presence is important, and executive presence helps us kind of lead from the back row. We can lead and have influence and manage up and do all the things without a formal title, which I always loved as an executive assistant.
Annie Croner:
I always love to be the one kind of behind the scenes making things happen and making my leader look good. But from time to time, I actually had to use my voice. I actually had to step out in confidence. I actually had to have clarity and communication. So those are the things that really help propel us forward in our careers and also in our relationships with our colleagues and coworkers, also in our relationships with our executive. Okay, so the core elements of executive presence for executive assistants that I would have us all look at is there again, confidence. And so when I say the word confidence, this word means so many things to so many different people. I've coached executive assistants in the past where confidence has meant arrogance.
Annie Croner:
So if they were going to work on their confidence, they were so afraid that they were going to look arrogant or be snobby or like, be all that in a bag of chips. As I used to say in high school, you know, that arrogance or that fronting or that posturing piece. But true confidence is a belief in your ability to figure out anything. That is where confidence comes from. It comes from our resourcefulness. It comes from our resilience. It's not arrogant, guys. And I think a lot of us, especially those of us socialized as women, may have mistaken our confidence for arrogance or may have been told that we should just sit in the back, we should not speak up, we should not exert ourselves or even exert our authority.
Annie Croner:
And sometimes this messaging comes from a team member. It may come from your executive from time to time. But I would, I would argue that confidence is crucial to your success as an executive assistant. It's also crucial to being able to build those foundations of trust and relationship with your colleagues and coworkers. If you are constantly doubting yourself, if you're constantly second guessing your decisions, you're not going to show up in the most effective way. So harnessing your confidence in is a great thing to continue to cultivate and work on, contrary to perhaps the patriarchy's opinion or contrary to perhaps someone else's opinion. Right. That confidence piece is really elemental in terms of executive presence.
Annie Croner:
Another core element of executive presence is clarity in your communication. So, meaning what you say, doing what you say you're going to do, reaching out to your executive if something isn't clear, asking your executive to clarify something with the team if they need to. Right. That clarity and communication will go a long way in establishing and building trust and rapport not only with your executive, but also with the rest of the team. Another kind of element of executive presence is emotional intelligence and composure under pressure. Right. So oftentimes we are the ones who are picking up on everyone's vibe. We're the ones who's picking up on what's going on in the room from an emotional intelligence standpoint.
Annie Croner:
And so there again, you're the bridge between your executive and the rest of the organization. You can point out certain dynamics to your executive that you may not have otherwise that no one else is going to point out. So that that's where our executive presence really comes into in handy is keeping that composure under pressure, being emotionally intelligent, being that calm in the storm, and also not ingesting everyone else's emotions around us. And for me, that's a challenge because I tend to be very compassionate. So when I was an executive assistant, I could easily ingest everyone's emotional state around me and then I could take that on. But being emotionally intelligent without actually owning someone else's or absorbing someone else's emotion is a superpower for sure. And it will help you with influence, which is our last element of executive presence. And there again, influence is built with trust.
Annie Croner:
So if you are showing up consistently, and there again, this is why I'm such a fan of creating systems, is because systems help you show up consistently if you're showing up on time, if you do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it, the simple things matter. The details also matter. So building that influence will go a long way in helping bolster and strengthen your executive presence. And I gotta say, when it comes to influence, reliability will also give you a lot of gravitas. It will also help to show your executive and show your colleagues and co workers just how much you care about the business. But then also, it's a core component to our executive presence as well, because if we aren't showing up reliably, then we aren't going to have influence because we aren't going to have trust. Okay? So just pay attention to those things. I would invite you all to reflect on your posture, your tone, your eye contact, your response to stress.
Annie Croner:
Are you being the example you want to be in your work life? Are you showing up in a way that feels empowering and confident to you, even if it is scary sometimes? Are you actually communicating if effectively with your executive and the team? Do you remain composed under pressure? Are you the calm and the storm? Do you have high emotional intelligence? And how are you leveraging that emotional intelligence for the greater good? Because all of that is what kind of brings executive presence to the forefront for us. And I also just think it helps demystify what executive presence actually is. Okay? So just reflect on those things, Reflect on those parts and pieces and tweak where you see you may need a tweak. Just kind of a pro tip here. I also would have you try on the identity of someone who has already mastered executive presence. Now, when it comes to something like executive presence, we are all a work in progress, right? Nobody gets it 100% right 100% of the time. But I would just have you try on the identity of someone who is a bit more confident to stretch yourself to grow. How would they think? How would they decide to show up? How you would.
Annie Croner:
Would they use their voice in the situation and then act from that place of having already achieved it there? Again, not from a posturing place, but from a. I am working on my confidence and now I'm going to speak up and use my voice, even though that feels uncomfortable for me kind of place. Right? There's a difference between authentically showing up and choosing to use our voice and being scared of it and showing up from this place of like, posturing to prove something to someone, which is never a good idea. Right? Okay. So that is what I have to say about executive presence today. I also find it helpful to dress like you mean it. So if you're. If you have a big meeting where you're going to be showing up and you want to really be your most on point, confident self.
Annie Croner:
Wardrobe matters. I know it sounds weird, but it totally mattered for me. I have a collection of blazers. We're very laid back here in Denver. We're very business casual in Denver, at least in the office environments I've been in here. But I always like to wear a blazer because it helped me feel elevated. So if I had a big meeting I was going to that day, I would come dressed in a blazer and jeans. But I always found it to just be very empowering.
Annie Croner:
So do what you gotta do to bolster your confidence to really step into the person that you want to become when it comes to executive presence. And then also just watch how high level people handle themselves. We can watch how our executives handle themselves. We can watch our colleagues and co workers that we admire who may have a bit more experience or maybe a bit further along in the executive presence area. We can watch how they handle themselves and we can borrow certain things. I hope that you will go and practice executive presence there. Again. I do believe that executive presence is a practice.
Annie Croner:
It's not a personality trait. It's not something that most people have and they're born with. I do think that for some people it does come easier for sure based on your personality. But this all takes practice and we are all a work in progress. So go give it a go. Report back. Email me at [email protected] and I will see y' all next week. Guys.
Annie Croner:
Hey, before you go, don't forget to grab my free Strategic Planning Session guide. This stealthy playbook will help you and your executive find clarity on their priorities so you can make a greater impact. Go to wholeassistant.com/guide or click the link in the Show Notes to snag your copy. And if you're loving the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review and share with another assistant ready to level up. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep embracing your badassery.
