Table of Contents | Introduction

1. What motivated you to write Executive Presence?

   Harrison Monarth: After the success of my first book The Confident Speaker I was inspired to create a more in-depth resource for working professionals to help them reach the next level of success in their careers. While speaking and presenting effectively is undoubtedly a key success factor in anyone’s career, I wanted to share other key principles and disciplines that help people stand out with excellence and create powerful perceptions in those whose opinions matter. In my research prior to writing Executive Presence I found that no other book really captures in one single resource the type of thinking, specific behaviors and key strategies that help someone create an influential Executive Presence. I thought it exciting to be able to offer millions of professionals a set of tools, a guide, to help them succeed beyond the limits of cognitive intelligence, drive and hard work.

2. How do you define Executive Presence and why is having it important for professionals?

   Harrison Monarth: Executive Presence is often the missing ingredient in the professional arsenals of many otherwise smart, educated, driven and even connected people. My definition of Executive Presence comprises the specific behaviors and communication strategies that separate those with leadership potential from the masses and positions them to become successful leaders who others want to follow. It’s a high-impact professional attribute, founded on a critical skill-set I describe in my book, for anyone looking to reach the pinnacle of their career, profession or business.

   Every year business schools and other graduate programs release tens of thousands of highly intelligent and ambitious young people into a complex high-pressure world where a stellar education, intelligence and drive are merely the ticket to admission. But in the never-ending competition for the top jobs, the top positions and the type of responsibility that gains a person the respect and confidence of peers and bosses, you need more than that. You need the perception management, influential communication and personal branding skills and strategies that unfortunately aren’t taught in the curricula of today’s business schools.

3. Who should read Executive Presence?

   Harrison Monarth: The strategies I present and teach in Executive Presence can help anyone from student to seasoned executive reach the next level in their career. I specifically wrote the book for all those who are looking for an edge in their careers and business and want to gain the positive exposure that gets them noticed by key stakeholders and others whose evaluation matters. I highly recommend the book for business school students, MBA graduates, supervisors, managers, mid-career professionals, consultants, executives, high-potentials, and would-be-chief-executives.

4. What will readers gain from reading Executive Presence?

   Harrison Monarth: Readers will immediately gain an awareness of the skills and behaviors that can make a significant difference in their lives. They include recognizing how others perceive them and what they can do to change potentially negative perceptions in their favor, how one can get strong support for their ideas, manage interpersonal conflict, influence others’ behaviors and attitudes, create a strong personal brand, protect and manage their reputation online and in their work environment, use the media to raise their professional profile and that of their organization, and master the difficult conversations life presents at every turn and angle at work and in their social sphere.

5. How quickly can readers apply the principles and lessons you teach in Executive Presence?

   Harrison Monarth: Many of the skills and strategies I teach in Executive Presence can be applied immediately, such as increasing one’s social intelligence, the art of managing critical relationships with others, for which I provide a 7-day plan to work on one component of SI every day of the week. Obviously all of the strategies and behaviors I discuss and outline in Executive Presence must be practiced and put to the test in real-world every-day situations in order to become part of someone’s natural self-presentation and range of success behaviors over the long term.

6. How have the principles of Executive Presence impacted your own life and business experiences?

   Harrison Monarth: The principles and strategies I’ve covered in this book are the result of many years of experience working with top professionals and executives as an executive communications coach and training professional. In the thousands of hours of research and conversations into what makes a person exude the type of leadership presence that draws others in and allows one to manage their perceptions, I have personally learned the secrets of Executive Presence that have given me access to top business leaders and enabled me to earn their trust and confidence.

7. Can you summarize the benefits for readers of Executive Presence in terms of ideal outcomes?

   Harrison Monarth: After studying the principles and strategies I present in Executive Presence I would expect readers to have increased their awareness of how they’re perceived by others, as well as boosted their social intelligence which will enable them to thrive and stand out in environments that involve interaction with colleagues, clients and bosses. Other benefits of confronting the ideas in the chapters of Executive Presence include the ability to influence people and events through ethical persuasion, an understanding of interpersonal conflict and how to manage it successfully for improved relationships, the ability to better read people and predict and interpret behavior, succeed in holding difficult conversations, create a strong personal brand and manage one’s reputation in an increasingly socially-connected world, understand the power of spin and how the media creates meaning in our minds and how we can use the media to get our message across to consumers about our products, services and organizations’ mission and vision. I genuinely expect that reading and applying the principles I’ve laid out in Executive Presence will make a powerful and lasting difference and provide a crucial competitive leadership edge in the lives of those who learn its lessons.