The Secret to Presenting to Executives

The main thing everyone needs to understand about executives is that, despite what Dilbert and similar non-executive comfort-culture relics would lead you to believe, each and every executive is an intellectual force to be reckoned with.

What Dilbert has right is that executives often have glaring weaknesses, a common one being self-awareness. But the majority of them are more than happy to have those weaknesses. In fact, they’re probably even aware of them in an unaware way (the executives out there know what we mean). Whether it’s social intelligence, business intelligence, intuitive intelligence or some other version entirely, every executive deserves respect. Trust us on this, even in that situation where you’re pretty sure we’re wrong and think the guy’s an idiot.

See, luck is enough to get you promoted once, maybe even twice. But to be an executive, something other than luck deserves the credit for the status. Some executives are where they are because when others quit, they stayed. That’s a kind of force and intelligence to be reckoned with. Other executives are where they are because they navigated the political system. Maybe you don’t respect the system, but you have to acknowledge the ability that got them where they are.

If you want to present effectively to executives, you have to start from a position of respect. If, on any level, you do not respect them, then you’re probably somehow, someway going to struggle to establish the kind of rapport you need and talk the kind of language you need to talk.

So here’s the secret to presenting to executives: see the world the way they do. Don’t see their glaring weaknesses. Don’t see their lack of self-awareness. Don’t see their apparent insensitivity or pride or any other characteristic you think you see. See what they see in themselves and the world around them.

The Harvard Business Review wrote last year that the most critical skill of the 21st Century is empathy. If you want to effectively present to executives, develop the ability to see the world from their eyes. If you lack imagination, just schedule breakfast or lunch with whoever the prototypical executive in your life is. Ask open-ended questions that reveal the way they process and think. A specific question gets a specific answer, but the less they’re constrained, the more they’ll betray their intellectual tendencies to you. Here are a few examples:

“Of all the possible outcomes, why do you think you’re successful?”
“What are your people good at, and what are you good at?”
“What are the most essential qualities of an employee?”

As you discover the way in which they perceive themselves and the world around them, you’ll be able to craft your presentations in a way that anticipates the way your audience interprets information. But if you have the point of view of the jealous, you’ll never really be able to truly take on their perspective.

Question: Have you ever diminished your own ability because of preconceptions about people in power?





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