Executive Presence
The Psychology of Leadership Impact
Dr. Maria Katsarou-Makin
start
We’ve all met technically brilliant leaders who somehow don’t land… and others who walk in and shift the room.
00
What?
Practical Levers & Derailers
Practical Behavioural Tips
Psychology
Q&A
Definition
Comments are Welcome!
Food For Thought
Suggested Definition: Relational Impact
... instead of Charisma
01
What Executive Presence really is
It might not be what you think...
01
Internal Presence (Self-Leadership)
- Emotional Regulation
- Confidence vs. Ego
- Psychological Groundedness
+ info
02
Relational Presence
- Listening Quality
- Psychological Safety
- Energy Leaders transmit
+ info
03
Contextual Presence
- Reading the Room
- Authority vs. Accessibility
- Cultural Sensitivity
+ info
It's NOT personality... It's Developable...
The Psychology Behind it.
02
01
The Nervous System Effect
Presence is contagious.
Leaders transmit their internal state.
Executive presence isn’t mysterious. It’s psychological. It’s how the human nervous system, perception, and trust mechanisms respond to you.
02
Perception
People form impressions within seconds.
03
Psychological Safety & Authority Paradox
True Presence sits in a paradox.
03
Practical Leadership Behaviours
+ info
Practical Levers
- Regulate before you Communicate
- Listen at Depth
- Align Words, Energy & Intent
+ info
Stress Leakage
Over-Control
Over-Friendliness
Over- Performance
Common Derailers
Take-away
EXECUTIVE PRESENCE is not about being IMPRESSIVE. IT's about BEING IMPACTFUL. Reflection Question:
- What do people experience when you enter the room?
Questions?
Q&A
Thank you very much!
20xx
Include infographics in your creations
85%
purchases are emotional
The passion that storytelling evokes is our ally to influence the teaching and learning process.
You can use any photograph, gif, or illustration you want to spice up the multimedia content.
We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating as usual is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates it.
close
20xx
Insert a great video for your presentation and use this space to describe it. The multimedia content is essential in a presentation, to leave everyone speechless. Moreover, this way you will summarize the content and entertain your audience.
Use videos
- It is clear and structured
- It tells stories hierarchically.
- It makes 'match' with your audience.
- It adapts fonts and color to the theme.
- It includes images and entertains.
- It represents data with charts.
- It uses timelines.
- It is animated and interactive.
- It excites the brain through multimedia elements.
- It does NOT overdo the bullet points.
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
20xx
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and share it anywhere. We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating the usual way is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates. Visual content is a cross-cutting, universal language, like music. We are capable of understanding images from millions of years ago, even from different cultures.
Share your idea with an image
- It is clear and structured
- It tells stories hierarchically.
- It makes 'match' with your audience.
- It adapts fonts and color to the theme.
- It includes images and entertains.
- It represents data with charts.
- It uses timelines.
- It is animated and interactive.
- It excites the brain through multimedia elements.
- It does NOT overdo the bullet points.
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
- It is clear and structured
- It tells stories hierarchically.
- It makes 'match' with your audience.
- It adapts fonts and color to the theme.
- It includes images and entertains.
- It represents data with charts.
- It uses timelines.
- It is animated and interactive.
- It excites the brain through multimedia elements.
- It does NOT overdo the bullet points.
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
20xx
Write a great headline
Contextualize your topic
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and promote it anywhere. We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating as always is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates.
20xx
You can put a highlighted title
Generate experiences with your content.
Measure results and experiment
Pose a dramatic question; it is the essential ingredient to keep the audience's attention. It is usually posed subtly at the beginning of the story to intrigue the audience and is resolved at the end.
It has a WOW effect. Very WOW.
+ info
- It is clear and structured
- It tells stories hierarchically.
- It makes 'match' with your audience.
- It adapts fonts and color to the theme.
- It includes images and entertains.
- It represents data with charts.
- It uses timelines.
- It is animated and interactive.
- It excites the brain through multimedia elements.
- It does NOT overdo the bullet points.
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
Executive Presence - ILW 2026
Maria Katsarou-Makin
Created on March 3, 2026
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Memories Presentation
View
Animated Chalkboard Presentation
View
Chalkboard Presentation
View
Witchcraft Presentation
View
Sketchbook Presentation
View
Vaporwave presentation
View
Animated Sketch Presentation
Explore all templates
Transcript
Executive Presence
The Psychology of Leadership Impact
Dr. Maria Katsarou-Makin
start
We’ve all met technically brilliant leaders who somehow don’t land… and others who walk in and shift the room.
00
What?
Practical Levers & Derailers
Practical Behavioural Tips
Psychology
Q&A
Definition
Comments are Welcome!
Food For Thought
Suggested Definition: Relational Impact
... instead of Charisma
01
What Executive Presence really is
It might not be what you think...
01
Internal Presence (Self-Leadership)
+ info
02
Relational Presence
+ info
03
Contextual Presence
+ info
It's NOT personality... It's Developable...
The Psychology Behind it.
02
01
The Nervous System Effect
Presence is contagious. Leaders transmit their internal state.
Executive presence isn’t mysterious. It’s psychological. It’s how the human nervous system, perception, and trust mechanisms respond to you.
02
Perception
People form impressions within seconds.
03
Psychological Safety & Authority Paradox
True Presence sits in a paradox.
03
Practical Leadership Behaviours
+ info
Practical Levers
+ info
Stress Leakage
Over-Control
Over-Friendliness
Over- Performance
Common Derailers
Take-away
EXECUTIVE PRESENCE is not about being IMPRESSIVE. IT's about BEING IMPACTFUL. Reflection Question:
Questions?
Q&A
Thank you very much!
20xx
Include infographics in your creations
85%
purchases are emotional
The passion that storytelling evokes is our ally to influence the teaching and learning process.
You can use any photograph, gif, or illustration you want to spice up the multimedia content.
We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating as usual is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates it.
close
20xx
Insert a great video for your presentation and use this space to describe it. The multimedia content is essential in a presentation, to leave everyone speechless. Moreover, this way you will summarize the content and entertain your audience.
Use videos
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
20xx
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and share it anywhere. We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating the usual way is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates. Visual content is a cross-cutting, universal language, like music. We are capable of understanding images from millions of years ago, even from different cultures.
Share your idea with an image
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.
20xx
Write a great headline
Contextualize your topic
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and promote it anywhere. We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating as always is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates.
20xx
You can put a highlighted title
Generate experiences with your content.
Measure results and experiment
Pose a dramatic question; it is the essential ingredient to keep the audience's attention. It is usually posed subtly at the beginning of the story to intrigue the audience and is resolved at the end.
It has a WOW effect. Very WOW.
+ info
A great presentation is clear and structured to convey information in an orderly and hierarchical manner, achieving to deliver content that excites the brain. For this, animation and interactivity are two fundamental pillars. Labels, windows, links, audios... With Genially you can include any type of interactivity to add additional content and include animation to capture your audience's attention.