Presence: An Essential Intangible of Leadership

Presence can be hard to describe, but you know when someone has it and when someone doesn’t. In the dictionary, presence is defined as “bearing, personality or appearance that is characterized by poise and confidence.” But it also is defined as having “a supernatural or divine spirit to it.” I think of presence as a combination of an appealing physical appearance, confident body language, assertive communication skills, and positive engaging energy, which actually creates some kind of magnetic field around a person that attracts others. When a person has all these traits, they have an aura of power that translates into the presence of a leader.

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