How does the way you present yourself reflect the leader you are? 

As our leadership careers progress, we spend years building expertise, credibility, relationships, and a track record of results. Yet we may give far less thought to whether other people can actually see the value we know we bring.

Executive presence influences how clearly others understand what distinguishes us, how visible our contributions are, and the reputation we build throughout our leadership careers. Even what we wear can reinforce, or work against, all three.

When I started my career at Prudential as a programmer, my father, Joe, pulled me aside and gave me advice I have never forgotten. He told me, “Ginny, dress so that if your manager can’t make a meeting, your manager will feel very comfortable saying that you can go in their place.”

I wasn’t thinking about executive presence, personal branding, or visual intelligence at the time. My father was teaching me something practical: show up professionally and always be ready to step into any room you’re invited to. 

I’ve remembered his advice for the 26 years I worked in corporate America, including many years in financial services and technology, where gray, black, and navy suits were the norm. As my leadership responsibilities grew, it became more obvious that what I knew and what I delivered were only part of how people perceived me. How I communicated, built relationships, carried myself, and presented myself physically were all part of the picture.

Elizabeth Lewis, M.B.A., CEO and Founder of Brand, Style & Bloom, looks at this part of executive presence from a perspective most leaders are rarely taught to consider. Elizabeth is a personal brand strategist and stylist, speaker, and author of Dress Your Brand: Use Your Wardrobe to Elevate, Stand Out, and Achieve Your Boldest Vision. 

With a background in publishing and brand marketing, including brand management at Colgate-Palmolive, Elizabeth brings an interesting perspective to executive presence: what she calls “visual intelligence.”

If you are an experienced leader or executive, you already know how to dress for work. The more interesting question is whether the way we present ourselves is actually communicating the leader we know ourselves to be and the value we bring.

Executive Presence Starts with Knowing Who You Are

Elizabeth defines executive presence as anything that helps us “come forward as a leader.” She doesn’t begin with clothing. She begins with knowing who you are, understanding your gifts, having a vision, knowing how you contribute, and bringing the best of yourself forward.

She and I align closely on how we think about executive presence through my PIN Framework™: Project confidence, Influence stakeholders, and Nurture relationships, all of which must be done with authenticity.

Authentic confidence begins with knowing what we bring to the table. What are you exceptionally good at? What have you accomplished? What do people rely on you for? What is your unique value proposition as a leader?

Elizabeth transitioned into personal branding after seeing firsthand how intentionally companies think about brands. She began asking why we don’t apply some of that same intentionality to ourselves.

As she put it, we can have extraordinary gifts inside of us; however, if we don’t know how to “externalize them,” other people may not recognize what makes us unique.

Her understanding of that started much earlier. Elizabeth was shy growing up and moved frequently because of her father’s work. Talking to her classmates and peers did not always come easily; however, she loved clothes.

She would wear orange jeans and lime green socks, and other children would approach her and start conversations because of what she was wearing. Before she had language for personal branding, she had discovered that something external could help people see something about her.

For executives, the application goes well beyond clothing. As our leadership responsibilities expand, we increasingly need to influence people who may not have worked closely with us and do not know the history behind our track record. 

This is where personal branding for executives becomes increasingly important. Executive peers, boards, clients, employees, and other stakeholders experience what we choose to communicate through our words, decisions, relationships, behavior, results, and physical presence.

The clearer we are about what distinguishes us, the more intentionally we can communicate it. Our accomplishments tell people what we have done. Executive presence also helps them understand who we are as leaders and what they can expect from us.

Don’t Be Wallpaper

I often say to leaders in our ExecutiveBound Elevate™ community, where we put Continuous Elevation™ into practice:

“Don’t be wallpaper.”

You can be exceptionally capable and still become easy to overlook. I have seen younger leaders assume that if they continue producing excellent work, somebody will eventually notice.

People are busy managing their own priorities and pressures, and they may not automatically connect what you are doing to the value you are creating.

Elizabeth had to learn this herself. Growing up in a humble family, she believed advocating for herself was bragging. Eventually, she learned that we cannot assume people know what we are accomplishing. We must become more comfortable communicating our contribution.

For experienced leaders, the challenge is different. At this level, leadership visibility is less about making sure someone notices our individual accomplishments and more about ensuring our executive peers, senior leadership, and key stakeholders understand the value we bring as leaders, the impact our teams are having, and how we are contributing to the organization’s priorities.

Our physical presence is part of that visibility. Elizabeth uses the term “visual intelligence” to describe how we can intentionally use color, prints, patterns, fabrics, and silhouettes to affect both how we feel and how we project ourselves to others.

My own thinking about this has evolved. Earlier in my corporate career, I dressed within a conservative financial services environment and found small ways to bring in my personality. Today, I intentionally wear my ExecutiveBound brand colors. Red, in particular, has become my favorite when I’m speaking virtually. It communicates action and energy; that energy oozes through the screen, and it influences how I show up and my audience’s experience while with me.

Elizabeth also uses red consistently because she associates it with energy, confidence, and boldness. Her point isn’t that everyone needs a signature color or an expensive wardrobe. A recognizable style could come through a color, a beautifully tailored suit, a pattern, or an accessory that feels like you.

Research also shows how nuanced these judgments can be. Specifically, a 2025 Duke University study published by the Academy of Management examined how clothing affected evaluations of women leaders. Across two preregistered studies, women wearing more feminine clothing were perceived as more likable, while women wearing gender-neutral clothing were perceived as more effective leaders, with perceived competence helping explain the difference.

Although that study focused specifically on women, the implications are relevant to executive teams who represent their organizations every day with employees, clients, boards, regulators, candidates, and industry peers. We spend considerable time preparing what leaders will say in those settings. How they show up is part of that preparation.

Visibility is something we must manage intentionally. We cannot assume our results, contributions, or capabilities are obvious to everyone around us. How we communicate our work, advocate for our contributions, build relationships, and even present ourselves physically can help others recognize how we add value and contribute to them, the company, and our industry. 

Your Personal Brand Travels with You

One of Elizabeth’s most relevant insights for experienced executives is the connection she makes between personal brand and leadership career longevity:

“A strong personal brand can last past the job that you’re in.” — Elizabeth Lewis

A 2024 peer-reviewed study published in Psychology & Marketing adds an interesting dimension. Across three studies, researchers found that CEOs who maintained a consistent fashion style across different occasions were perceived as more competent than CEOs whose style varied.

For leaders, the value of that finding goes beyond what we wear. Consistency helps people know us and recognize what we stand for. Our expertise, relationships, accomplishments, and reputation become part of how people know us, regardless of the title we hold.

As our leadership careers evolve, our roles and responsibilities change along with the organizations around us. We may find ourselves navigating a restructuring, leading a transformation, taking on broader enterprise responsibility, joining another organization, serving on a board, or deciding how we want to contribute next, all while AI continues to reshape what organizations need from their leaders.

Elizabeth encourages us to identify the gifts and accomplishments that belong to us and build our personal brand around those. After 20 or 30 years of leading, it can be surprisingly easy to introduce ourselves through our position in our company without separating the role from the leadership value we actually bring.

This connects naturally to Continuous Elevation™ for me. As our responsibilities and business conditions evolve, the way we led at a previous level will most likely not be enough. We may need to elevate how we communicate, influence, build relationships, make our contributions visible, and present ourselves in the rooms we are now being asked to enter.

The same applies at the organizational level. When a company changes strategy, integrates AI, goes through a transformation, or asks leaders to take on greater enterprise responsibility, how those leaders represent the organization needs to evolve to meet the new business needs. Executive presence shapes how employees, clients, boards, and other stakeholders experience the organization’s leadership.

Elizabeth offered a simple piece of advice for those moments when we hesitate because we are afraid of saying the wrong thing or embarrassing ourselves: “You are there for a reason. You deserve that seat. Act like it.”

Ultimately, the reputation we build around our expertise, contributions, relationships, and leadership travels with us. In an environment where disruption can change the trajectory of our leadership careers in the drop of a dime, being intentional about what we are known for becomes increasingly important.

What’s Next?

As you think about your own executive presence, consider these questions: 

What distinguishes you as a leader? 

How are you making the value you bring visible? 

What leadership reputation are you building that can continue to serve you throughout your leadership career?

If you lead an executive team, broaden those questions. Your leaders represent the organization with employees, clients, boards, regulators, and other stakeholders. How are they continuing to elevate the way they communicate, influence, build credibility, and represent the organization as the business evolves?

At ExecutiveBound®, we collaborate with executive teams and senior leaders in financial services and highly regulated industries when growth and disruption require leaders to elevate how they lead. Through executive team advisory, executive coaching, leadership solutions, and keynote experiences, we help leaders continuously elevate themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

If this has you thinking about where you or your executive team may need to elevate next, let’s connect over a Strategy Conversation and explore it together. You can also connect with us directly at info@executivebound.com.

To continue exploring the connection between visual intelligence, personal brand, and executive presence, I encourage you to reach out to Elizabeth and learn more about her ongoing work with leaders and organizations.

Found this article valuable? Share it with others in your leadership network so we can continue expanding the reach of these conversations. And if you’re not already a member of our free ExecutiveBound Inner Circle community, join us here for practical elevation skills, leadership insights, and resources to support your Continuous Elevation™. 

Lead with purpose, live with joy!

Dr. Ginny

About Our Distinguished Guest

Elizabeth Lewis, M.B.A. is the CEO and Founder of Brand, Style & Bloom. Elizabeth is a personal brand strategist and stylist, speaker, and author of Dress Your Brand who helps women founders and leaders dress with intention for success. To connect with Elizabeth, email her at elizabeth@brandstylebloom.com, visit her website www.brandstylebloom.com, and follow her on LinkedIn.