If you’ve been told you lack “executive presence” when you’re delivering a presentation, you know that something about how you’re coming across needs to change. What’s less clear is what, specifically, to work on. 

A leader I coached, whom I’ll call Michael, had been told he needed stronger executive presence. He communicated effectively with his team but was less effective with senior executives.

Executive presence has become an umbrella term for effective communication, but what does it mean when you’re told you lack executive presence? Being able to communicate effectively and hold a room’s attention relies on several factors.

As Michael and I did dry runs for upcoming meetings, it became clear the problem wasn’t how he delivered his presentation. There were other gaps such as the information he selected, how he sequenced and organized the content, and how he responded to questions and pushback.

In my executive coaching work and more than a decade of teaching leadership communication at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, I’ve worked with professionals across industries and levels. I’ve identified three key areas to work on to strengthen your executive presence. 

The first place where leaders often fall down is understanding what information their audience needs. 

I coached one VP who was preparing a strategic plan for the C-suite. His draft was essentially a list of initiatives. He was missing the strategic reasoning behind the initiatives: why those priorities, what enterprise problems they addressed, what impact or tradeoffs they involved. 

His audience wanted to understand the implications for the organization for each initiative, and the VP wasn’t helping.

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