People believe what they see.

I'm the CEO of a small growing company, and at each stage of our growth, it's become apparent to me that I need to adapt my leadership style and learn new approaches. When I completed the assessment, asking my own team to provide feedback on the 15 qualities of presence, I learned a lot about the leader I have yet to become.

I have worked with leaders for 17 years. But I'm also a leader myself, and I can honestly say I feel deeply the privilege and responsibility that come with being a CEO. It is incumbent upon us to become all we can be, not only for ourselves, but for our companies.

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.

People believe what they see.

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 must reflect a holistic view of the leader, in three dimensions, character, substance and style. Character consists of the qualities that win trust whereas substance consists of the qualities that earn us credibility; style is the dimension of execution - getting others to get things done.