I
My client, when he rose to become the head of a practice at a Big Four Professional Services firm, he needed to feel more comfortable in his role leading hundreds of Partners. Self-professed, he was at his absolute best when he was working with clients to solve their problems. Being the center of attention in a very large group was less comfortable.
In school, as an athlete, he naturally gained what he called his “field presence”. He described this as when he was on the field or the court he knew what was going on around him 360° at all times. Now that’s presence.
He asked me to bring back his field presence again. We got to work. It was to connect him back to himself. Interestingly, although he was of a tall and large stature, I experienced him “not to fill out his whole self.”
We worked for him to reach his full presence in the context he was currently in. Afterward, he asked me to work with his top tier partners to prepare them for an annual internal event – to their great success.
II
Known as one of the top producers for her firm, my client after being in her role for over 20 years was contemplating whether she could move into a leadership role. It wasn’t that she was passed over, she was never even considered.
An opportunity was handed to her to run a top client event fully on her own. Typically, she’d introduce the head of the business and he’d talk about the state of the economy. This time she was on her own with him in the room observing.
She and I worked to orchestrate an evening – one that would be unforgettable. Instead of the usual, “We talk, you listen” format of the evening, she turned the tables to have it become, “You talk, we listen.” It created deeper relationships, a lot of incredible intel, and great buzz. As a result, the head of business requested her to conduct other events inside the firm.
Her peers and leadership looked upon her differently. Her style was more grounded and impactful. As a result, she was offered a leadership role within the firm.
III
Even though this client had risen to top levels of her firm, she felt less self-assured. She felt at times dismissed or less-than to her senior team and peers. Her team’s contribution was critical to the firm, and her team was in turmoil. Lots of infighting, ego, misplaced talent, etc.
For some reason, it wasn’t that difficult for her to get her footing. We worked to on the issues at hand. So many of us can be overrun with the opinions of others. It becomes paralyzing.
When she let go of this, her success came from becoming embodied. It was refreshing to hear her report how things fell into line more easily. Her confidence was more solid.
IV
As a senior leader in her firm, she had the luxury of having others’ reporting to her to do the large audience presenting. It was not known to anyone that this was her great fear and one to keep hidden. Until when she took a leadership role in a new firm and her first assignment was to present to her new company in an audience of 2000 people.
We worked on her message, on her presence for this uncertain arena; and to center and ground her. I told her that she was going to call me right after and say, “That was fun! I want to do it again!” She scoffed. Not only did I take her call right after with those exact words, we then got to work on a larger presentation to inspire the sales team to reach greater goals that year. What she created and delivered was clearly inspiring and unforgettable.
