…lead an extraordinary life.

In case you’ve never been, here’s a peek inside the Mountain View and Zurich offices of the world’s most dominant search company.  If you’re a business owner, it’s definitely worth a look.

~ ST

This is Part 4 of our series on Executive Presence.  In Part 3 of this series, we discussed the need to stay current, as another critical element of Intellectual Impact (one of the two main components of Executive Presence).

If you haven’t already done so, it would be best to start with Part 1.

Picture Yourself…
So, picture yourself at a business meeting — after having implemented all we’ve discussed so far about Executive Presence:

• you have engaged the action items in 10 Things Every Man Should Do, Every Day, and are packing a powerful Physical Impact — brimming with energy, fresh off of a workout, impeccably dressed, impeccably groomed.

• you have some great literature under your belt, and the enhanced philosophical perspective that comes with it.

• you are current; ‘on the draw’ with interesting stories and the occasional pop culture reference to help keep your conversations gliding along.

With these essentials in order, you hold an incredible amount of firepower — in fact, a dangerous amount, if not modulated correctly.  There is a slippery downslope of having your ’stuff’ together:  it’s very easy to slip into a smug sense of yourself — albeit unknowingly.

Get the next 3 elements of Intellectual Impact right, however, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.  On the one hand, you will see your comfort level soar in social and business settings.  You will find yourself at ease in situations that perhaps unnerved you in the past.

On the other hand, you will be balanced and controlled in your communication style in a way that will draw people to you.  You will be admired for your knowledge; your confidence; your authority — rather than resented.

To get there, you’ll need to be…

Outwardly Focused
One of the key advantages to being outwardly focused is that it relaxes you in situations that make most people nervous.

When you’re outwardly focused, there is no room in your mind for wondering what people’s impressions are of you… how you’re coming off… if you’re ‘presidential’ enough… whether they like you.  Your mind has no time for these inward concerns, because it is completely focused on outcomes.

To illustrate:  let’s say you’re arriving at a conference as a newly appointed member of the board of directors for a large pharmaceutical firm.

Standing around in the cocktail reception area there are groups of CEO’s, scientists and PhD’s (in groups of 2’s and 3’s), market strategists, lawyers and staff chatting quietly — a little laughter here and there… they seem to all know each other, but this is the first time most of them will be meeting you.

Here’s what inwardly focused thinking sounds like:

• ‘OK — this is it.  Whatever you do, don’t screw up!’

• ‘I’ve got to think positively.  I’m Great and everyone will love me!’

• ‘Really nervous.  I hope I don’t start sweating too much.’

• ‘Heh.  Why should I be nervous…  I make more money than all of these guys.’

Here’s the same man, this time focused outwardly:

• ‘Glad to finally be here — it’ll be great to put some faces with some names.’

• ‘Let’s see, which one is Jim Porter… I want to be sure and talk to him about…’

• ‘Marketing director really seems to know her stuff.  She might be a great resource for…’

When you’re outwardly focused, you rarely allow any of your thoughts to be about you.  You are focused on results (Latin: effectus, you’ll recall).

High-stakes social settings like the above illustration tend to exacerbate our insecurities (we all have them).  But when your outward focus is strong enough, you render yourself unconscious of any superficial concerns.  All your mind has room for — is the work.

2 Steps to an Outwardly Focused Mindset

1. Before you arrive at any business gathering, set 1 to 3 solid goals you want to achieve by the end of the meeting (chat with a specific politician?  make a strategic introduction?  rally your VP’s behind a new initiative? …).  This ensures that you have outcomes to concentrate on, rather than yourself.
2. Tune your radar for opportunities to assist others with their outcomes at the meeting, as well.  Make a conscious effort to provide value to everything and everyone you touch and, again, you will rarely catch yourself thinking about yourself.

Become a Titan of outward focus, and you will see your confidence (and by extension, your Executive Presence) rise to new heights.

Next week, we talk about the next element of Intellectual Impact (which would seem to totally contradict outward focus!):  be self-aware.

About the Author: ST is Editor of WhataManKnows. Get more from ST on Twitter.

If you have a dog, Sean Ellis’ story of literally living with wolves in the Rocky Mountains will blow you away.  Check it out, here.

~ ST

So, you’ve decided that this is the year you’re going to open a business of your own — but you’re short on ideas.

No worries.

Take a look at Springwise and throw your ‘idea engine’ into high gear.

Even if you’re already running a business, Springwise is an important site to watch, if only to stay abreast of fresh opportunities and latest upstart trends in your industry.  Check out Springwise, here.

~ ST

In Part 2 of this series, we covered the first element of Intellectual Impact: be well-read.

If you haven’t already done so, it would be best to start with Part 1.

Stay Current
Silence is often a good thing.  Sometimes a well-placed ‘pregnant pause’ can serve to add a little drama, or even humor, to a lively conversation.

But, sometimes it can be pretty awkward — as in, the mysterious mid-conversation silence that most people try to fix by smiling and hoping someone else quickly thinks of something more to say.

What’s interesting about the awkward silence is that it can happen even with people with whom we may have been hitting it off, only seconds ago; your conversation is moving along at a nice, dynamic clip, you may even share a laugh — and out of nowhere — a missed beat.  You may even sense that no one really wants the conversation to end, yet, there it goes, sputtering mercilessly to a halt, and sending all participants packing, reluctantly.

“The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country…”

Having a few current events ‘on the draw’ can do a lot to save a good conversation from an early demise.  Granted, not all conversations are worth saving — but it’s best to be prepared to rescue the ones that are.

In addition, referencing news and events that people may have heard about not only gives you an aura of awareness, as a leader, but also promotes a feeling of familiarity and comfort with you, as an individual.  The resulting camaraderie encourages people to feel at ease — and, in turn, makes them more ‘open’ to you, and easier to converse with.

Set Up Google Reader
Google Reader is currently one of the most powerful tools available for staying in touch with current events.  The magic of it lies in how profoundly simple it can make your web reading experience.

Once you get the hang of it, Google Reader almost totally wipes out any need for you to click all over the web to read your favorite news and info sites.  It brings all of your chosen sites together, in one format; easy to navigate.  Take a good look at Google Reader, and digest almost all of your information sources in a fraction of the time.  The price is pretty good, too (free).

Learn to Use RSS Feeds
It is said that ‘the Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country; the New York Times by the people who think they run the country; the Washington Post by the people who think they ought to run the country; the Boston Globe by the people who’s parents used to run the country (and did a far superior job of it, thank-you-veddy much)…’

Jokes aside, whichever paper you gravitate toward in your part of the world, leverage the power of the web by subscribing to the RSS feed of your newspaper’s website.  Doing this will allow you to scan through all the interesting headlines in seconds, rather than minutes.  As an example, you could find yourself going through the Journal, the Times, the Post and the Globe in less time it normally takes to read one paper.

Once you have a Google Reader account (mentioned above), subscribing to an RSS feed is as simple as clicking an RSS feed “Subscribe” button (like the large orange one that appears at the top-right of the page, here at WhataManKnows.com).

Some newspapers are (understandably) beginning to charge a fee for access to their articles online (WSJ, most notably; NYT is currently considering it).  The technology is so convenient (and web news so ubiquitous) — the physical newspaper business is getting killed!

It’s simply easier and faster to stay current, online.

They Don’t Call it ‘Pop Culture’ For Nothing
Of course, there’s more to life than newspapers.  Now that you’ve got a feed reader at your disposal, you can also more easily stay abreast of lighter fare (sports, entertainment, etc.) — also very useful in business social settings.

For United States dwellers, a few glances through ESPN, for example, as well as NPR’s Pop Culture segment, as well as a blog like Pop Culture Madness, and you’ll be up to speed on the general ‘goings-on’ in a matter of minutes — without having to sit through hours of bad television.

Finally, remember to keep it inoffensive; keep it relevant; and ‘change gears’ gently when introducing a topic.  Work on smoothly folding current news and elements of pop culture into your banter, and you will find yourself having to end your conversations deliberately; like television, people won’t be able to get enough of you.

In Part 4, we talk about the next crucial element of Intellectual Impact:  be outwardly-focused.  Go to Part 4, here.

About the Author: ST is Editor of WhataManKnows. Get more from ST on Twitter.

You wake up to a disaster like you’ve never seen before.

• no lights
• no electricity
• no drinking water
• no phones (cell towers are out of commission)
• stores are completely out of food
• ATM machines don’t work.

How do you survive?  How does your family survive? Click to continue →

I’m not too sure you’ll ever catch me in the sky with 853 people.  Still, it’s a marvel of technology and a glimpse into where commercial air travel may be heading.

The Airbus A380:

• it’s 50 percent wider than a 747.
• it has an entire level (upper deck) dedicated to business class.
• it has two full showers.
• it has two full bars.

The lounge is obviously beautiful, but the rest of it looks a bit claustrophobic to me.  You be the judge — take a look at it here.

~ST

Intelligence is tricky.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me. — Jim Rohn

…more deceptively simple brilliance from one of the finest business philosophers of our time.  The quote reminds me to relax, and not be so dogmatic about things I’m so “sure” about.

Scott Berkun (an actual smart person) once did a piece on just this subject, entitled, Why Smart People Defend Bad Ideas — and it’s awesome.  When you have about 15 minutes, I recommend it (enthusiastically).

~ ST

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the two factors your self-confidence and Executive Presence depend upon:

• Physical Impact (PI)

• Intellectual Impact (II)

To understand Physical Impact, it would be best to start with Part 1.

II
Intellectual Impact is what happens once the conversation starts with an individual or a group of people you’ve just met.  It has to do with the effect your words and behavior have upon others during your communication with them.

Remember, the idea is to cultivate an unmistakable aura of respect and trustworthiness that people can feel, almost immediately upon meeting you.  This is Executive Presence.

To have maximum Intellectual Impact, you need to be:

• well-read
• current
• outwardly focused
• self-aware
• generous

Let’s take a look at the first element.

Be Well-Read
When you’re meeting and talking with people in a business setting, it goes without saying that you need to ‘know your stuff.’ But knowledge of your chosen field of discipline isn’t always enough.  We all know plenty of “well-read” guys who can speak ad nauseam on the most minute detail of our industries — but whom you wouldn’t follow onto a Hawaiian Tropic tour bus.

For the kind of Intellectual Impact that executive presence requires, your scope is going to need to be much wider than that of the average technician.  A leader, in addition to superior industry knowledge, needs vision and imagination — something found in no richer abundance than in the pages of great literature.

Specifically, the works of the literary masters, such as Aristotle, Eliot, Dostoevsky, Dante, etc.

Refreshing yourself on works such as these can do wonders for your perspective on modern business problems — often by showing how unmodern life and business dilemmas often are (…for an example of this, take a look at Robert Louis Stevenson’s On the Choice of a Profession, written in 1916).

There’s no need to go around, loudly quoting Shakespeare…

Moreover, you might find that reading great literature expands your vision of your industry (and your role within that industry).  From the staunch finance and trade ideologies of Dante, to Aristotle’s brilliant microeconomic observations, there are many contemporary parallels to be drawn, often validating (or challenging) your current business approach.

Your philosophically enhanced scope will display itself naturally in your conversation, and (you may find) will engender a sense of confidence in others, toward you.

Obviously, there’s no need to go around, loudly quoting Shakespeare to impress people you’ve just met.  But, could the business implications of Shakespeare’s Henry V, for example, add some nuances to your leadership philosophy?

At the very least, this sort of high-octane idea intake can make you a more flexible, more interesting, and more engaging conversationalist — always a powerful executive asset.

As you begin to wrap your head around these mammoth manuscripts — maybe some you thought you’d never have to see again after college — remember the caliber of company you’re in… notably, T.S. Eliot, himself, who said:

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”

Check out ClassicReader.com, a great (and free) online resource for the classics, and a host of other excellent works.

In Part 3, we talk about the crucial element that follows being well-read:  stay current.  Go to Part 3, here.

About the Author: ST is Editor of WhataManKnows. Get more from ST on Twitter.

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~ ST