the importance of presence & purpose
I empower people and teams to navigate their professional lives with presence and purpose. (That’s MY purpose!) Read more to learn how to develop YOUR presence and discover YOUR purpose.
The concept of presence offers an approach to leadership and your career that is grounded and authentic. By developing your presence you are shining a light on yourself and lighting the way for others. It reminds me of a line from a letter written by Emily Dickinson: “I am out with lanterns looking for myself.” With your presence lighting the way, you can then discover your purpose — this is essential for your professional growth and fulfillment. Stated simply, understanding your presence requires that you ask the big question “who am I?”, discovering your purpose means asking yourself “what do I want to do?” and in order to express your presence and purpose you will need a strong set professional skills so ask yourself “how do I get it done effectively?”
Presence: Honing your presence requires that you develop the following skills: self-awareness, self-regulation, confidence and emotional intelligence. My favorite tool for working with self-awareness is the Enneagram personality assessment. The Enneagram shows us our greatest strengths as well as areas where we might be getting in our own way. With a strong sense of your strengths and areas for development, you have created the foundation for thriving on a daily basis with self-regulation practices. These practices will develop your resilience, calmness and stress management skills. Confidence and more specifically, self efficacy, are also crucial for developing a strong presence. Most of us struggle with the voices of our inner critics, holding us down and beating us up daily. In my practice, I teach my clients and workshop participants how to quell those voices, develop their inner mentor and practice self-compassion. These skills bolster your ability to lead others – a person who is deeply connected to their own presence emanates a power that is authentic and grounded in emotional intelligence. Someone who has thoughtfully developed their own presence is well-resourced to lead others.
Purpose: Finding your purpose requires you to identify your goals, strengths and values. Once you have clarity around these aspects of yourself, the sky's the limit. You can easily and confidently make a plan of action to achieve your goals and further develop your career by defining and promoting your authentic professional identity. That being said, sometimes even with a developed presence and clear purpose, we can get stuck or something really challenging comes our way. In my work, I help clients with getting unstuck from perspectives that are unhelpful, shed habits that are not in alignment with their goals and navigate difficult times in their careers.
Professional skills: In order to express your presence and purpose effectively, you need a strong set of professional skills. In my coaching and workshops, in addition to teaching people how to develop their presence and find their purpose, I teach professional skills that you need to develop as your progress in your career.
