As we started working with leaders, providing them with assessment feedback, noticing the impact it was having on them, and their teams, a real story unfolded, and the book All the Leader You Can Be became what it is now - a guide to leaders who want to understand their strengths, and also appreciate how to enhance their leadership.

One of my favorite quotes from Thomas Edison is, "If we all did the things we are capable of doing we would astound ourselves." I believe leadership is a journey of learning and growing.

Executive presence has to do with the whole of the person. It's much more than presentation skill, charisma or savvy. It shows up in three dimensions of the leader's persona - character, substance and style. It's now clear that for a leader to influence and make an impact, it is important for them to also develop qualities such as authenticity, integrity, resonance, practical wisdom, and vision.

People believe what they see.

As we started working with leaders, providing them with assessment feedback, noticing the impact it was having on them, and their teams, a real story unfolded, and the book All the Leader You Can Be became what it is now - a guide to leaders who want to understand their strengths, and also appreciate how to enhance their leadership.

For years when we went into companies to discuss how we could help their leaders be most effective, we heard people say, "Our leaders need to develop executive presence."

We become overly reliant on the strengths that got us where we are today. We also become isolated as we move up in the organization. Unless we have the benefit of assessment, and unless we invite feedback on our leadership, we continue to lean on strengths that can actually work against us, and fail to expand our leadership style in a way that makes us more effective.