Executive Presence: Your Personal Brand… Live

Are you about to graduate and looking for a job? Your executive presence at the interview can make the difference, and in this post I’ll explain why.

Hello, how are you? I’m Dr. Carlos Valdez, founder and director of MercadotecniayVentas.com, an educational portal where 90% of our content is freely accessible. Our mission is to educate and inspire students, academia, and professionals in the areas of marketing and sales through innovative and practical content, aimed at developing essential skills for value creation.

And this is our August 16th video-audio blog titled:
Executive Presence: Your Personal Brand… Live

Let’s get started.

If you’re looking for a job or selling ideas, projects, or solutions, your executive presence is the live version of your personal brand. The brand tells who you are and what value you deliver; executive presence makes others feel it when you speak, present, or lead—whether in person or on Zoom. It’s not cosmetic. When well developed, it accelerates your career, opens opportunities, and sets you apart in your industry. In my experience, when your value narrative, communication style, and image project the same message, your audience’s trust grows and favorable decisions happen more often.

The “new rules of executive presence” developed by Sylvia Ann Hewlett in Harvard Business Review are based on authority, communication, and appearance, updated to the post-pandemic reality:

• Authority: Decision-making and confidence remain central traits—clarity in prioritizing, firmness in holding your points, and calmness under pressure.
• Communication: It’s no longer enough to “command the room”; today you must master the virtual environment with equal skill—looking at the camera as if it were the person, modulating your voice to sustain attention through the screen, and structuring your message to flow with or without slides.
• Appearance: The polished look coexists with authenticity—looking professional while aligning your image with your values, mission, and goals (Hewlett, 2024).

Now, let’s talk about communication style. Experimental evidence shows it carries as much weight as the content. In a study where participants analyzed business plan presentations by entrepreneurs, Chia-Jung Tsay compared presentations with audio, without audio, audio only, and transcripts. The finding was striking: silent videos—meaning without words—allowed more accurate predictions of which entrepreneurs investors would fund.

What does this tell us? Posture, movement, eye contact, and energy shape perceptions before a single word is spoken. The practical takeaway couldn’t be clearer: a great script isn’t enough; you must train stage presence and nonverbal communication, even on camera (Tsay, 2021).

Clothing matters in two ways: how you see yourself during the day and how others see you.

1. Internal perspective: HBR reports that choosing aesthetic clothing boosts feelings of attractiveness, wearing clothing that conforms to the environment reinforces belonging, and selecting unique clothing increases personal distinctiveness. Combined, these choices raise self-esteem, which in turn improves productivity. In fact, the positive performance effects were similar or greater than those of good day planning, while poor clothing choices caused productivity losses comparable to dealing with a rude boss or starting the day chaotically. This has an immediate translation to your agenda: dressing with intention activates your readiness to perform better.
2. External perspective: How others see you. Another HBR article shows that, on average, people perceive those who dress in business or business casual attire as more ethical than those who dress casually. Often, business casual is the ideal “middle ground”—professional yet approachable. The study explains the mechanism: style and context-appropriateness influence perceived ethics. In both studies, business casual outperformed casual in perceived ethics; and in one, business formal also surpassed casual. The key is to align your dress code with your message and context to reinforce credibility and trust.

Your digital personal brand and your executive presence amplify each other. In a recent study, we evaluated a LinkedIn workshop using a pre-post design and found significant increases in self-esteem, job search self-efficacy, and personal brand clarity in the experimental group compared to the control.

In practice, this means that deliberate LinkedIn work not only “looks better” but psychologically strengthens people to search more effectively and sustain their efforts over time. From the labor market perspective, in another study we found that recruiters read profile consistency, keyword use, and evidence of achievements as signals of a candidate’s personal brand and executive presence. In other words, LinkedIn serves as a brand representation.

When your profile says one thing and your interactions say another, the signal gets diluted; when everything aligns—values, achievements, style—the recruiter’s impression is more favorable, as your executive presence is consistent and coherent.

In another personal branding study, we found that early integration of impression management strategies—how you want to be perceived—helps students develop a strong personal brand and executive presence on LinkedIn through clear headlines, value proposition summaries, evidence portfolios, and activity that demonstrates judgment. The result isn’t “looking good” just for the sake of it; it’s building a strategic, consistent personal brand that endures over time and impacts employability. And, by the way, this also applies to active professionals seeking promotions or career transitions: consistency between what you say, how you say it, and how you embody it is essential.

Six strategies to strengthen your executive presence and personal brand:

1. Project authority with decisiveness and confidence. Be clear in prioritizing, firm in your viewpoints, and calm under pressure. The confidence you convey is as important as your message content.
2. Master both in-person and virtual environments. Controlling the room is no longer enough: in video calls, look at the lens as if it were the person, modulate your voice to keep attention, and structure your message to flow with or without slides.
3. Build and communicate a coherent personal brand. Define and project your values, mission, and goals through your LinkedIn profile, posts, and network engagement. Ensure your message is consistent across all touchpoints.
4. Use strategic impression management behaviors. From your profile picture to your interaction style, every detail matters. Join relevant conversations, share valuable content, and showcase your expertise with concrete examples.
5. Blend a polished look with authenticity. Dress professionally and appropriately for your industry while staying true to yourself. Your image should reinforce your credibility and connect with your audience.
6. Invest in continuous development and intentional networking. Attend workshops, conferences, and training programs. Connect with key professionals and maintain active relationships to boost your visibility and credibility in your field.

I hope you apply these strategies to improve your executive presence in your marketing and sales job search and land the job you want. If you do, I’d be glad to hear from you—share your story at [email protected].

I’ll sign off by reminding you that 90% of our content at MercadotecniayVentas.com is free. Also, once you’re in your first marketing and sales job, I recommend the Red Manual for Marketing and Sales Coordinators. It’s not a book—it’s a practical manual and guide to help you remember the most important marketing topics and how to use them with artificial intelligence. It costs $10, and here’s the link to our landing page.

I wish you great success in your job interviews, and I remind you that in marketing and sales, we must always… create value! Thank you, and see you next time!

References

“Casual clothing makes you look less ethical at work.” (2024, September–October). Harvard Business Review, 28.

Hewlett, S. A. (2024, January–February). The new rules of executive presence: How leaders need to think and act now. Harvard Business Review.

Leo, C., Halloran, T., Valdez, C., Martinou, I., Connell, L., & Morin, J. (2024). The LinkedIn effect: Building personal brands, enhancing self-esteem and job search behaviors for the next generation. Marketing Education Review, 34(2), 107–120.

“Not getting enough done? Your clothes might be part of the problem.” (2023, July–August). Harvard Business Review.

Sotak, K. L., Serban, A., Friedman, B. A., & Palanski, M. (2024). Perceptions of ethicality: The role of attire style, attire appropriateness, and context. Journal of Business Ethics, 189(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05347-7

Tsay, C.-J. (2021, September–October). In entrepreneurial pitches, stage presence is everything. Harvard Business Review

Valdez, C., Creque, C. A., & Penn, D. (2024). The perceptions and experiences of human resources recruiters regarding LinkedIn as an online personal branding representation of recent business graduates. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 18(1), 20–33.

Valdez, C., Villegas, J., & Penn, D. (2024). A blueprint for marketing faculty about how to teach personal branding on LinkedIn using impression management behaviors. Journal for the Advancement of Marketing Education, 32(2), 18–42.