If You're Going to Cast a Big Shadow - Make it Authentic

The Executives’ Club of Chicago had their Annual CEO Fireside Chat as part of their Leadership Circle Program / Diversity Leadership Series on June 4, 2015. There was a large crowd (that appeared to be fairly diverse), and I personally found the discussion to be relevant and interesting.

The topic was:  “Building Executive Presence: Views from the C-Suite”

The panel included:

• Jose Luis Prado – former President of Quaker Foods North America
• Beth Reese – EVP and CFO of AGL Resources (as of May 2015, prior to that, she was the President of Nicor Gas and SVP of AGL Resources)
• Russell Stokes – President & CEO of GE Transportation
• Moderator: Byron Spruel – Vice Chairman, Central Region and Chicago Managing Principle Deloitte LLP

Melvin Williams, as the newly-named President of Nicor Gas (succeeding Beth Reese in the role) welcomed everyone to the event, hosted at Nicor’s headquarters, and, as part of Nicor’s culture, opened the event with a “safety moment.”

The first segment of the discussion centered on the many elements that comprise how leaders project their personal brand and are perceived.  The range of topics included communication style, attire and appearance, and non-verbal communication.  Highlights included:

• Communication is comprised of image and substance. Image is what opens the door.
• We talk with our posture and attitude, and communicate 70% through body language.
• Need to dress appropriately for the situation (Ms. Reese specifically provided insight about how the proper appearance helps people to better focus on what you are saying, and Mr. Prado shared an anecdote about having to be attuned to the cultural norms when working across countries).

There is so much interesting research about the brain, and how you are sending signals (consciously or unconsciously) to others (who are receiving them consciously or unconsciously).   If you want to go a little deeper on this topic, and learn a bit about how our reptilian brains work, I suggest this Great TedxToronto talk by Mark Bowden entitled, “The Importance of Being Inauthentic.”  

 Also, the topic of wardrobe reminded me of an article that was in the Sunday Chicago Tribune entitled, “How to Save your Brain for Work: Wear the Same Outfit Every Day”.

The discussion then shifted to more traditional aspects of leadership – intentionally leading and inspiring people.  Lots of insights shared regarding: confidence, and being authentic.  Also talked about the flip-side – the importance of having mentors and sponsors.  Interesting nuggets included:

• Reese shared that during her time at the helm of Nicor, a colleague told her, “You cast a shadow as large as this building.” She also talked about the importance of being fully present when dealing with people, and how she loved that their building had a central cafeteria as it afforded the opportunity to talk to lots of different people.
• Prado said, “They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” He said that his nameplate at his more recent positions said “Coach” right under his name, and he would purposefully start his emails with, “Team”.
• Mr. Stokes stated that one’s brand is linked to that of your sponsors, and he takes that very seriously (never wanting to reflect poorly on them). He also shared a saying, “Success has many fathers.  Failure is an orphan.”

For a “lightening round” Mr. Spruell asked them each if they were an introvert or extrovert.  Each panelist stated that they started out as an introvert but then evolved to being an extrovert.  Ms. Reese shared that in personal situations she reverts more to that introvert role.  Not sure that a panel of 3 CEO’s is statistically significant, but it would be interesting to see a larger study on how CEO’s categorize themselves “then and now.”  I think the important thing is for executive leaders to have that self-awareness (as an important component of their executive presence).  One executive shared with me that she was introverted, but had worked very hard to be able to downplay those tendencies in order to be effective in her executive leadership role.  However, at large, multi-day conferences, she said that she rarely accepts invitations for evening events / dinners, because with the entire day being a constant bombardment of interaction, she simply needs the evenings to recharge for the next day.    

All in all, it was quite an interesting discussion.

You can see other great photos and quotes from the event on the Twitter feed for the Executive Club: @ExecClubChicago as well as my Twitter feed: @vickiva19