If you are looking for senior leadership position in corporate, here a quick read for focus action items to look inward for bringing or demonstrating your gravitas.

A right balance between hard facts and real life storiesA right balance between hard facts and real life storiesThis is the first book of Sylvia Ann Hewlett I read. The book is extremely well written and easy to read and to understand, even for a non native English speaker like me. the three "pillars" of Executive Presence (EP) are well introduced and explained:1. Gravitas: how you act2. Communications skills: how you speak3. Appearance: how you lookSylvia then explains with hard quantitative an...

Well worth the read. Her concepts are well defined, and her priorities based on research. She offers actionable approaches (and at the end, some guidelines) for managing the impression you make on three key areas: gravitas, communication, and appearance. The first part of the book is written in a way that, in my opinion, is useful to anyone. I have already put some of what I learned into action, and have seen it make a difference. The second half of the book is focused on the special problems of...

Incredibly pleased about Sylvia’s nod to authenticity particularly for people of color. Bravo!

I thought the chapter on feedback was great. The rest of it was OK, but I also felt like the book didn’t age well in terms of DEI, even though it’s relatively recent.

The perfect guide to work in a toxic system instead of actively trying to change it! "Never try to be someone you're not," Hewlett argues as she tells you to lose weight, change your voice, and stop wearing glasses. "It's ridiculous for someone with curves to go into an audition hiding them. It signals a lack of awareness, even an immaturity on your part". "Volunteering embarrassing details of her seemingly flawless life, owning up to her seventy-pound weight gain during her first pregnancy." Oh...

Perhaps this would make a good article, but it is very drawn out and boring as a book. There isn't new information here - look your best, be your best, and speak your best. This book agitated me for these 4 reasons: 1) Using Angelina Jolie as a positive example for anything2) Endorsing plastic surgery3) Recommending heavy make-up 4) Overuse of the word gravitas and the phrase "show your teeth"

Gravitas- confidence and grace under fire-decisiveness and showing teeth-integrity and speaking truth to power -emotional intelligence-reputation and standing/"pedigree"-vision and charismaCommunication-superior speaking skills-ability to command a room-forcefulness and assertiveness-ability to read a client/boss/room-sense of humor and ability to banter-body language/posture Appearance-being polish and groomed-physically attractive, fit, slim-simple, stylish clothes that position you for next j...

Executive Presence (EP) is another way of describing your personal image, and is here defined as a mixture of three pillars - act with composure (gravitas), practice how and what you say (communication), andbe mindful of how you dress (appearance). EP is held to a different standard for women, minorities, and LBGT communities, mostly due to the high percentage of white men who hold high level management positions. The real-world examples lend a tangible weight to the points at hand, but the mess...

I won this book through Goodreads and was eager to read a woman's take on what might be lacking in the workplace to hold people back. I found the format of the book a bit underdeveloped. Short stories if notable people littered the book to provide examples of the issues advanced but lacked closure or any real tie to the discussion. Often there wasn't even a closing sentence to sum up the section. Many of the propositions advanced were very simple and I found myself wondering who the book was wri...

Solid. This author would be worth reading more of. Concrete, applicable thoughts and tactics for increasing executive presence. The focus on appearance was especially interesting. There were many references back to survey data, and I’m not sure that was all that compelling (N=264, and often the author would call out 5% differences as if they meant something important). But the larger points of the book still stood [despite what I considered to be noise about percentages of respondents who though...

I am trying to read more business related books. This one was ok. I found the empirical data to be interesting, but most of the book is for people who are recent graduates and entering the business world for the first time. I found the author's advice to be very basic. Some examples are "look people in the eye when you speak to them", "have a firm handshake", "don't dress like a whore, because it confuses men" and "fat men are ok, unless obese, but women need to be fit and trim", etc. Interestin...

This book is excellent. Not so much that it's groundbreaking material, but the research and personal stories validate what most of us already know about what it takes to be perceived as a "leader." To get the most out of it, you need to be in the frame of mind that values "what it is" over "how it should be." While the book is not gender specific, author Sylvia Ann Hewlett's research points to the greatest challenges for potential leaders and those challenges happen to fall heavily upon women an...

Before I dive into the actual review, let me tell you why I've reached for this book (bear with me, this is important):A few weeks ago I've seen a short (2-3 mins long) video on Twitter. A group of anti-vaccine protesters in the US was being dispersed by Police forces. Police have used (adequate IMHO) force, as the protesters were aggressive and persistent. Nevertheless, a single, civil individual (one of the anti-vacciners) suddenly took full control over the whole situation. How come?He wasn't...

First, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review here. And I am really glad I won it. I'm not sure that I would have sought out this gem otherwise. It's incredibly approachable prose with enough recent, high-level examples to maintain credibility. But the focus for each example is always on the point, not the people, so it doesn't devolve into a name dropping session.When I started reading, I could immediately see how it might help me in the workplace where there is much jocke...

This book had a very Lean In-feel to it. It’s the first professional development book I’ve read that spends a non-significant amount of time talking about implicit bias in the corporate world against women and minorities. Like Sheryl Sandberg’s book, it has a practical prescription of working harder to overcome those limitations that is both admirable and sort of a let-down. But the fact that she spends so much time even acknowledging the problem makes it noteworthy for this genre.The key word o...

I was about to write a review but saw other readers writing similar critiques as I had in mind! this user said it all, exactly my thoughts on the book.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This book has been circulating around the Risk Management group at work, but I found it really forgettable. While it was short already, it could have been summarized with:“Be calm under fire. Don’t stand out with your business clothes or accent until you’ve made it big. Then you can do whatever you want. “Preaching reformation of an accent as a business technique was especially strange for me. The examples of good and bad executives throughout the book lacked substance

I've read a number of professional development books and, quite honestly, this one was painful to get through. The author detailed the three pillars of EP- gravitas, communication, and appearance, describing how appearance attributes to only ~5% of your total EP. Despite this low contribution, I felt the central theme of appearance constantly being revisited, and how gravely important it is to improve yours (eye roll). In a time where diversity and inclusivity is encouraged, I felt this book mis...

I appreciated seeing the results of what executives in the corporate world view as important: gravitas, communication, and appearance, with multiple sub-categories for each. This information is important to know so we all know what is consciously and unconsciously expected from others.However, the author was downright schizophrenic with her advice. Sometimes the advice was to wear more makeup, lose weight, lose your accent, wear heels to be taller, ask for feedback because male bosses are scared...