Leadership Presence Series – Post 2 of 16: The Root of Presence

What lies at the root of genuine leadership presence? It’s inner wholeness, the opposite of inner division. Let’s unpack what inner wholeness means and why it matters.

Introduction

If presence is a key to leading successfully – and it is – we need to understand it. So what is it? What’s so great about it? How does it show itself? What’s the source of presence? How do you develop it? That’s what we’re covering in this 16-part series.

Welcome to part 2: The Root of Presence.

So what is the source, the root, of leadership presence? It is inner wholeness.

Great, but what is inner wholeness?

What Inner Wholeness Is Not

Here’s one way of describing it: it’s the opposite of inner division.

What do I mean by “inner division”? We experience inner division when we hold conflicting beliefs or desires, which often cause anxiety and defensive behaviours when we’re around others.

What are “defensive behaviours”? They’re action habits we unconsciously create and use to avoid experiencing our greatest fears – most of which stem from a negative or wounded self-image. Many people are unaware of their inner division, but it affects them nevertheless.

I’ll give you an example of inner division.

Deep down, many believe they are “not good enough”. Without realising, many high-profile leaders dedicate their lives to striving for continual success, never failing.

Their subconscious aim? It’s to suppress the so-called truth of what they’ve always believed (“I’m not good enough”) and avoid the humiliation they’re certain will follow failure. How? By creating feel-good experiences through repeated worldly success.

But by believing they’re not good enough they think they’ll eventually fail and be exposed as inadequate. And yet simultaneously they’re telling themselves they must never fail, that “failure isn’t an option”.

Can you see how these two beliefs pull in opposite directions?

Thus, a person with inner division is “a house divided against itself” – a phrase famously used by Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln. He or she can never feel complete while the division remains.

What Inner Wholeness Is

However, the man or woman with well-developed presence experiences an inner togetherness, a wholeness.

Wholeness stems from – and indeed is – a positive inner alignment of one’s sense of identity, purpose and feelings about life and oneself.

What It Does For Us

• It frees us from self-image-based limiting beliefs or rigid fanatical ideology.
• It unchains us from fear.
• It releases our creativity.
• It brings us a rare combination of inner peace and vitality.

Next post in the series: Presence versus Charisma

[This post uses content from my 2016 book, The Three Levels of Leadership.]

Are you a visual or audio-orientated person? If so, you might prefer to see and hear me talking about leadership presence in my eleven-episode video series on YouTube at my YT channel, The Leadership Mastery Suite. When you arrive at the channel page, scroll down until you come to Created Playlists and there you’ll find the series, “On Leadership Presence”.