Executive Presence is a Myth

Executive Presence Is a Myth

Workshop

Learn how to lead with authenticity and emotional presence by showing up as yourself, tuning into others, and adapting with intention.

90% satisfaction

This workshop includes

Too many leaders mistake executive presence for polish and performance. When executive presence is misunderstood:

Leaders try to “perform” instead of lead
Authenticity gets lost in posturing
Teams feel disconnected, unsure who their leader really is

Cost to the business?

When leaders mask their true selves, trust erodes. Teams miss out on connection, honesty, and psychological safety – critical ingredients for collaboration and performance.

What's missing?

A way to move from performance to presence: being real, being aware, and being responsive.

In short, the ability to lead with emotional presence.

Audience

New Managers

Length

90 minutes

Cohort size

Price

Starting at $7,500

About this workshop

Participants will reframe “executive presence” as emotional presence: the ability to show up authentically while tuning in to others. They will reflect on their leadership traits, explore different styles, and practice adapting their presence to better connect with and lead their teams.

Skills you'll improve

Agenda

1 - Reframe the Myth

What does “executive presence” really mean?

We’ll kick off by unpacking the myth of executive presence and why authenticity, not polish, is what people want from leaders today.

2 - Name Your Style

Reflect on your authentic leadership traits

Through guided reflection and discussion, you’ll explore your natural leadership tendencies and what it looks like when you’re at your best.

3 - Explore Emotional Presence

Learn what it means to lead with awareness

We’ll introduce the concept of emotional presence, showing up authentically while reading the room and responding to others’ needs.

4 - See the Range

Understand different leadership styles in action

Using real examples and group discussion, you’ll explore a range of leadership styles and how different approaches create connection and impact.

5 - Reflect & Commit

Group debrief and personal action commitments

You’ll wrap with a group reflection, sharing insights and commitments for showing up more authentically in your leadership. You’ll also get a prompt to bring your manager into the loop.

90% satisfaction

What Participants Are Saying

“In navigating a tricky situation with an xfn partner, I used Narrative Dialogue to understand where she was coming from and develop a solution to best meet everyone's needs.”

Eliza Worcester

Senior Product Marketing Manager

“I enjoyed learning the Whole Brain Model - it will sharpen the way I engage with different stakeholders and how I position my communication strategy.”

Jessica Rose

L&D Associate

“I worked on a proposal through each workshop and it's helped me to shape the insights and recommendations using to the frameworks we learned.”

Brooklyn Brown

Staff Product Designer

“I've adapted the How/What framework to better coach my team and guide them through problem-solving in more productive ways.”

Stephanie Smith

Customer Success Partner

"I found this to be a very valuable course, and Andrew was fantastic.”

Sara Beatty

Senior Product Marketing Manager

“I'm constantly using soundbites when communicating with my core leadership audience: What do you NEED to know and by when in order to do what?”

Sara Becker

Senior Product Manager

"I learned useful ways to communicate more effectively by understanding your audience and using more structured thinking."

Qi Gao

Senior Data Scientist

“I found the points around sparking curiosity interesting. Getting engagement on documentation can be a challenge since people's attention is pulled in so many different ways.”

James Oliver

Senior Engineer

"I knew what MECE stood for, but I fully grasped how the concept was useful when presenting to a group that might not know as much about something as I do."

Dylan Schwarz

Marketing Analytics Senior Associate

The Curious Lion Experience

Zoom like you’ve never seen

Not your ordinary Zoom call

We combine storytelling, music, energizers, breakouts, and hands-on learning to create an unforgettable virtual experience.

Learn from peers across functions

Cross-functional learning provides context

The best learning happens when ideas are filtered through the unique context of those we work with. Our programs all follow our framework for Cohort Learning Experiences.

Get real work done

A structured process for solving problems

We provide hands-on coaching while your people apply our thinking tools to their actual work to ship during the cohort.

Drive business outcomes

Align learning to your business strategy

With a team of strategy consultants and learning consultants working hand-in-hand, we are able to create learning products that drive real business outcomes (and measure this).

Meet Your
Instructor

Andrew is an expert in learning and development, serving in executive roles at global organizations like KPMG. As the founder of Curious Lion, Andrew and his team have developed 1,000s of leaders at clients like Workday, Pinterest, IMG, and USAA, winning numerous awards for their engaging learning experiences.

Kenny is the Domain Manager for the Web Development Domain at Codecademy. He contributed to a wide range of courses and paths at Codecademy, including JavaScript, Bootstrap, Handlebars, Phaser.js, Go, Swift, TypeScript, and Lua.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this virtual?

The program is built to be virtual first, delivering a Zoom experience like you’ve never experienced before. But individual sessions can be delivered in person.

Can this be tailored?

All our programs have a minimum level of customization by our team of strategy and learning consultants. We can discuss deeper customization in our discovery calls.

What audience is this best for?

We see the most success with a cross-functional audience of experienced individual contributors transitioning to leadership and new leaders.

Why the focus on problem-solving?

The core challenge of leadership is not having all the answers. It’s having the right questions. This mindset is at the heart of problem-solving. We teach new and aspiring leaders how to synthesize multiple perspectives into a strategic narrative and communicate clearly to diverse stakeholders.