About this item
Do you exude confidence and credibility? Can you command a room? Sylvia Ann Hewlett, one of the world's most influential business thinkers, cracks the code of Executive Presence (EP) for men and women intent on winning the next plum assignment and doing something extraordinary with their lives. You might have the qualifications to be considered for your dream job, but you won't get far unless you can signal that you're "leadership material" and that you "have what it takes. " Professionals are judged on presence as well as on performance. Using a wealth of hard data including a new nationwide survey and dozens of focus groups Hewlett reveals EP to be a dynamic mix of three things: how you act (gravitas) , how you speak (communication) , and how you look (appearance) . She also draws on in-depth interviews with a wide selection of admired leaders to reveal how they embody and deploy key elements of EP. This book is immensely practical. Hewlett teases out tactics that can help you raise your game and close the gap between merit and success. She offers the unvarnished advice you won't get from supportive friends and tackles head-on such touchy subjects as too-tight clothing and too-shrill voices. She shows how the standards for EP vary for men, women, multicultural, and LGBT employees, and she shares how to get meaningful feedback from politically correct bosses intent on avoiding the real issues. The good news is that EP is eminently teachable. You can learn how to "show teeth" while remaining likable, and you can teach yourself how to dress appropriately while staying true to yourself. You don't have to be born with the voice of James Earl Jones or the looks of Angelina Jolie to hurdle the EP bar. With hard facts and vivid examples, Hewlett shows you how to ace EP and fully realize your unique potential no matter who you are, no matter where you work. "
About the Author
Sylvia Ann Hewlett is the founding president and CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation and the founding partner of Hewlett Consulting Partners LLC. She's also the co-director of the Women's Leadership Program at the Columbia Business School and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association. An economist with 20 years of experience in global talent management, Hewlett has particularly focused on the "power of difference" and the challenges and opportunities faced by women, minorities and other previously excluded groups. She has forged a signature style of enquiry which blends hard data and rigorous analysis with concrete solutions and on-the-ground action. She is the author of eleven Harvard Business Review articles and twelve critically acclaimed books, including When the Bough Breaks (winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award) ; Off-Ramps and On-Ramps; Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets; Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor (named one of the best business books of 2013 by the Globe and Mail and winner of the 2014 Axiom book award) ; and Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success (an Amazon "Best Book of the Month," June 2014) . In 2014 she was recognized as the Most Influential International Thinker by HR magazine and was honored by the European Diversity Awards with its Global Diversity Award. Her writings have appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal, she's a featured blogger on the HBR Blog Network. In 2011 she received the Isabel Benham Award from the Women's Bond Club, and a Women of the Year Award from the Financial Women's Association, and in 2013 she received a Work Life Legacy Award from the Families and Work Institute.Hewlett has taught at Cambridge, Columbia, and Princeton universities and has held fellowships at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London and the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard. In the 1980s she became the first woman to head the Economic Policy Council, a nonprofit composed of 125 business and labor leaders. Hewlett is a sought-after speaker on the international stage. She has keynoted International Women's Day at the IMF, given the featured address at Pfizer's Emerging Markets Leadership Summit in Dubai, and spoken at the White House. She is a frequent guest on TV and radio programs, appearing on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, ABC World News Tonight, The Today Show, The View, BBC World News, and Talk of the Nation--and she has been lampooned on Saturday Night Live.A Kennedy Scholar and graduate of Cambridge University, Hewlett earned her PhD in economics at London University.
