30-day executive presence practice plan
Presence
“I sound like the person people already picture in the role: in one-to-ones, meetings and presentations.”
Who it’s for: Anyone who has finished Command the room and is stepping into bigger rooms.
Opens after Command the room.
- Free to start
- Measured on your device
- We never store your recordings
All 30 days
Each day is one measured session: a short idea, then takes you can hear and compare.
Checkpoint days replay day 1, so you can hear what changed.
WEEK 1 · DAYS 1–7
Hard conversations
Feedback, bad news and no, said clearly and kindly.
- 01Feedback with SBIWhen, what you saw, what it caused. Feedback helps on average, but a large review of the research found it made performance worse in about a third of cases, most often when it targeted the person rather than the work.
- 02Deliver bad newsThe news first, then the plan. In studies of bad news, people receiving it mostly want it straight away, while people giving it tend to delay with a long preamble.
- 03No, with a tradeEvery yes carries an if. A flat no can damage the relationship, and a yes with nothing in return teaches people to keep asking.
- 04Name the feelingLabel it, then pause. Brain-imaging studies find that putting a feeling into words tends to lower its intensity.
- 05Disagree upwardRisk, alternative, then commit. Studies of speaking up at work find that people who raise a concern along with a way forward are seen as more constructive than those who only raise the problem.
- 06Hold your positionShorter each time, same level voice. In group persuasion studies, a minority view that stays consistent is more likely to shift others than one that wobbles.
- 07Clarify before concedingAsk first, trade second. The first objection is often not the real one.
WEEK 2 · DAYS 8–14
Conflict and one-to-ones
Apologize, disagree upward, and lead the one-to-one.
- 08Apologize wellOwn it, repair it, once. In a study comparing the parts of an apology, taking responsibility and offering to repair mattered most; explanations mattered much less.
- 09Peer conflictOne issue, one agreement. Conflict with a peer is harder than with a report because you can’t decide for them.
- 10Hard-talk capstoneEverything, with interruptions. This is the whole phase in one conversation, run three times with different pushback each time.
- 11Frame the one-to-oneSay what this time is for. A one-to-one drifts when nobody says what it’s for.
- 12Ask before tellingQuestions first, advice second. When someone brings you a problem, the quick move is to solve it.
- 13Recognition that landsSpecific beats generous. ’Great job’ is kind and forgettable.
- 14The development conversationTheir goal, one stretch, one step. A development conversation is about where the other person wants to go, not what you need from them this quarter.
WEEK 3 · DAYS 15–21
Meetings
Open with purpose, bring voices in, and land the decision.
- 15Benchmark 7CheckpointThe one-to-one weeks, measured. Same recipe as every benchmark: a parallel version of your introduction and a question you’ve never seen, scored exactly like Session 1.
- 16The performance conversationOne issue, its impact, a question. Performance talks go wrong in two ways: so soft the message never lands, or so heavy the person can only defend.
- 17Take it, then commitReceive hard feedback, close on commitments. The more senior you get, the less honest feedback reaches you, so how you react the first time decides whether there’s a second.
- 18Open with purposeWhy we’re here, what we’ll leave with. Meeting researchers have found that having an agenda does surprisingly little on its own; what people rate is whether the meeting had a clear purpose and used their time well.
- 19Bring in quiet voicesA named, easy invitation. Groups tend to discuss what everyone already knows and miss what only one person knows; decision studies have found this again and again.
- 20Land the decisionSay it, check it, move on. Many meetings end with everyone believing something different was decided.
- 21The executive updateHeadline, number, risk, ask. Senior leaders listen for three things: where it stands, what could go wrong, and what you need from them.
WEEK 4 · DAYS 22–30
On stage
Updates and talks that earn the room, then the final benchmark.
- 22Park the tangentAcknowledge, park, return. Every meeting gets pulled sideways: a pet topic, a war story, a detail that belongs elsewhere.
- 23Disagree up the tableName the risk, offer a path. Studies of workplace silence find people most often hold back concerns because they worry how it will land with people senior to them.
- 24Close with ownersEvery action gets a name and date. An action with no owner and no date usually doesn’t happen.
- 25A three-minute talkOpen, three points, close. A short talk has a simple job: say where you’re going, take people there, and tell them where they’ve arrived.
- 26Earn the first minuteA first line worth hearing. People form impressions fast: in ’thin slice’ studies, observers agreed on a lot from a few seconds of behaviour.
- 27Pause, then liftPauses and pitch mark the key point. In a talk, a pause and a pitch lift are how the audience hears which sentence matters.
- 28Field the questionsBreath, answer first, stop. Questions after a talk are where the audience decides whether you really know your material.
- 29Full dress rehearsalYour whole talk, three rungs, rising stakes. Graded exposure, the same talk repeated as the stakes rise, is the best-studied way to turn down speaking nerves, and in the trials the effect held at follow-up.
- 30Final benchmarkCheckpointNinety sessions measured, then the real thing. The same recipe as every benchmark: a parallel introduction and a question you’ve never seen, scored exactly like Session 1, so the comparison is honest.
Get this track
Included in Leadership Voice, with every other track.
$39a month, or $299 a year
All nine tracks, with live rehearsals and voice benchmarks. Cancel in one click.
Start Leadership VoiceMeasured or refunded. Six sessions in your first 30 days and no measured improvement? Every cent back. Or ask within seven days, for any reason.
- Not sure yet? Take the free 60-second voice scan.
Hear yourself the way they will.
One question out loud, 60 seconds: your pace, your ums and how fast you started, measured on your device. Day 1 of every track begins there.
- Free to start
- Measured on your device
- We never store your recordings
