Leading from Your Best Self: Develop Executive Poise, Presence, and Influence to Maximize Your Potential

Book excerpt: Proven techniques for building self-confidence, making personal connections, and developing a professional presence that’s powerful, authentic, and effective.Increase your poise, presence, and influence for more dynamic leadershipAre you showing up as the best version of yourself? Are you aware of how others experience you? By cultivating executive poise and presence, we not only improve how others see us but enhance our capacity to lead a life of our choosing. While leadership styles may vary, all great leaders are able to connect with others while staying true to themselves. By remaining true to the best aspects of your personality, you too, will be able to lead effectively in every situation.Leading from Your Best Self delivers a roadmap for developing the poise, presence, and influence needed to succeed at work and in life. As a theater professional, Rob Salafia cultivated a mindset of excellence and learned how to truly connect with his audiences by tapping into and developing his own intrinsic gifts as a performer. He realized that these skills could be put to great use in the business world where it is just as important to build authentic connections with key stakeholders—in this case, employees, bosses, and customers. Now, he shares his insights with you, making this book the next best thing to having your own personal executive coach.Through specific techniques, activities, and personal stories, Salafia illustrates how to tap into your own inner resources and experiences, show up with greater self-confidence, and make the shift to more inclusive modes of leading. He shares exercises and narratives from real-life clients who have struggled and succeeded to break past their self-imposed limitations.Leading from Your Best Self shows you how to:•Be present and open•Discover your Signature Stance•Maintain poise under the most stressful of situations•Create a solid foundation of self-confidence and your own genuine leadership style•Develop a System for Learning, a Platform for Failure, and a Mindset of Excellence•Connect authentically with others and build lasting relationships based on trust•Use storytelling and metaphor to make your messages meaningful and memorable•Understand the sources of influence and power within organizations•Create a culture of learning within your own team and organizationEveryone has the capacity to be extraordinary by appreciating and nurturing their best qualities and gifts. This book will help you uncover yours and reach your true potential as a leader and communicator.