Executive Presence | Sylvia Ann Hewlett | Talks at Google

Do you exude confidence and credibility? Can you command a room? Sylvia Ann Hewlett, one of the world's most influential business thinkers, cracks the code of Executive Presence (EP).
You might have the qualifications to be considered for your dream job, but you won't get it unless you can signal that you're "leadership material" and that you "have what it takes." Professionals are judged on presence as well as performance. Using a wealth of data, Hewlett reveals EP to be a dynamic mix of three things: how you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication) and how you look (appearance).
Sylvia Ann Hewlett is the founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation, a Manhattan-based think tank where she chairs a Task Force of 82 multinational companies focused on fully realizing the new streams of labor in the global marketplace.
Sylvia's books can be found on Google Play: goo.gl/OFqhbv

Пікірлер: 120

  • @bezalelGR
    @bezalelGR2 жыл бұрын

    Sylvia Ann Hewlett is a Cambridge educated economist, an expert on gender and workplace issues and she's was 68 in this video (Wow!) Her speech really made an impact on me. Thank you for this!

  • @andrewbrown3304
    @andrewbrown33042 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely fascinating. What a wonderful teacher. Best advice I've heard in a long time.

  • @boymom77
    @boymom77 Жыл бұрын

    Highly insightful presentation. She mentions gravitas as being particularly challenging for African American leaders. I believe this has to be looked at more thoroughly at a deeper level. Often black leaders have to balance that tricky fine line of Gravitas, Likablity, and here's the biggie - Humility. This can be challenging for leaders trying to forge paths in spaces where they have historically been left out. Too much gravitas/confidence can be misconstrued as arrogance and can equate to being less likable and lacking humility.

  • @romansokolovskii6941
    @romansokolovskii69413 жыл бұрын

    This was one of the most useful hours I spent on KZread. Many thanks!

  • @realSimoneCherie

    @realSimoneCherie

    3 жыл бұрын

    Agreed

  • @georgikayryakov9132
    @georgikayryakov91327 жыл бұрын

    This speech is such a gem. I will re watch a few times.

  • @manilaspade1005
    @manilaspade10055 жыл бұрын

    This woman is right on point. She’s giving us great tactics to deal With this .

  • @tashylareine
    @tashylareine9 жыл бұрын

    I enjoyed this discussion and found it extremely insightful. It's so important to find ways to set yourself apart and be self-aware so that you may work on the characteristics you exhibit that may be working against you. Thank you for sharing. :)

  • @DavidPerez-sq3cj
    @DavidPerez-sq3cj Жыл бұрын

    This presentation is both enlightening and deeply disturbing. The key takeaways seem to be: the most successful ladder-climbers lose weight, dress sharply, learn to communicate well, and get promoted by mirroring the qualities existing executives perceive in themselves (whether they have those qualities or not), or by playing to the worst stereotypes that exist in society as a whole. This a great playbook if you want to play the game as it is. Then again, if the world seems too full of racist, sexist, self-serving, sociopaths among the executive ranks, it is because of talks like this that perpetuate the same. If you play be these rules, you might win, but you may adopt some or all of the bad things that corporate America represents.

  • @meinungabundance7696

    @meinungabundance7696

    Жыл бұрын

    there are not too many options for women: 1) play the game and adapt to it, without loosing your identity adn 2) establish a company yourself! Why are so few women thinking about this? Why there are so few Steve Jobs, Elon Musks or Bill Gates around? If women would be able to build their own companies, there would be no "glass ceiling" .

  • @sandylien
    @sandylien3 жыл бұрын

    I echo your speech very much. I remembered one occasion I was going through a 3 days internal assessment, and one of the question I got in between the interviews was about g my actual age. As an Asian, I looked younger than my actual age and it was hard to match with my experience I had demonstrated to the assessor that I am matured enough to be assessed as ready! I got all sort of questions about my other colleagues around the world to proof my age.

  • @ricemonsterr124

    @ricemonsterr124

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hi Sandy, I'm in the same boat as you! I look younger than my age also because I'm Asian, so it's hard to prove to interviewers that I'm capable for the job, which is why I'm watching videos like this. I hope your assessment went well :)

  • @michaelbishop9157

    @michaelbishop9157

    2 жыл бұрын

    Sounds like a terrible problem to have !

  • @analyndizon8675
    @analyndizon86754 ай бұрын

    Hi Maam in Executive leadership in Stanford I had 3 webinar to be finshed but I had to continue again to have certificates from Stanford that was 2022 I remember thank you

  • @Nimiao2024
    @Nimiao20245 ай бұрын

    Enjoyed the discussion and learning, esp. how to make efforts to sugar coat in someway as a women leader

  • @saidfarid6382
    @saidfarid6382 Жыл бұрын

    Hello Professor Thank you so much for your interesting lecture,i do appreciate your job.I wish you peace and happness under the sky of prosperity. Take care and have a good time. All the best. Your Student from Algeria.

  • @hannahminasfoskett
    @hannahminasfoskett4 жыл бұрын

    Nobody should ever tell you not to talk with your own accent. Yes speak clearly, yes speak with correct grammar but, be yourself. Gravitas is about being a better version of yourself, not someone else. Accents can work in your favour. A scottish accent (specifically edinburgh) has been voted the most trustworthy accent in the UK. An accent can make you less threatening, more serious, or humorous, it can make you more likeable and above all memorable. My northern English accent I feel has only ever worked in my favour, and if it worked against me it was towards people i wouldn't want to work for or with.

  • @ciro5872

    @ciro5872

    3 жыл бұрын

    "No one should ever tell you"... And you already lost the concept of Presence, which is not reality but appearance

  • @realSimoneCherie

    @realSimoneCherie

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@ciro5872 I agree generally, but asserting your individuality is a risk, and some people (for personal, but valid reasons) are risk averse.

  • @ravisop
    @ravisop2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much Sylvia. Enjoyed the talk.

  • @solarhydrowind
    @solarhydrowind Жыл бұрын

    They say when you speak a foreign language you have a different personality in that second "language", as you do in your native "language". I wonder if the same is true for class based or regional accents? My great grandmother taught people from Boston and New York who wanted to pass as another class to speak differently. My Fair Lady, only maybe self taught, like this! Some teenagers self teach themselves to speak a class based lingo. Right now none of this matters? The most important thing, i think, that matters is the climate. P. S. Loved the last question about what if you don't want to be two different people; last question so everything!!!

  • @patricehorner5476
    @patricehorner54763 жыл бұрын

    What is her microphone brand? It is so inabtrusive and enhances professional presence. I like the way she intersperses a smile in her gravitas. Excellent presentation. Thanks.

  • @shotakiguchi

    @shotakiguchi

    Жыл бұрын

    rode headset

  • @lisawynne-magnuson9469
    @lisawynne-magnuson9469 Жыл бұрын

    Well done! And Thank You!

  • @bonnietran3702
    @bonnietran37025 жыл бұрын

    most of this is true. she articulated it well. so much has happened since 2014.

  • @reggaelvr68

    @reggaelvr68

    4 жыл бұрын

    Especially watching leaders and their devices in meetings 🤐

  • @ninirema4532
    @ninirema45322 жыл бұрын

    Super very smart mam most interesting lecture All women are facing critical situation insecurity in home /room and out room /home.????

  • @shawnsimon5480
    @shawnsimon54807 жыл бұрын

    Having read many of the comments from Google listeners on this talk I was very disappointed and surprised to hear their many cocky, rude, "know it all "attitudes . Really pretty pathetic and suggests the highest levels of insecurity, lack of EQ, and the kind of self- leadership that is totally self limiting. Sound like my how perfect you are ! I always say and believe that I live in the biggest room and never leave it . That of course is the "room for improvement" . I hope one day you too find and are open to living in that room.

  • @Matt-wg9xn

    @Matt-wg9xn

    4 жыл бұрын

    It's been 3 years but I hope you've learned that insulting someone you want to take your feedback never works.

  • @MrTangocrazy
    @MrTangocrazy9 жыл бұрын

    Frankly I found the book much better than the talk - can't say the talk was particularly insightful

  • @aminrafiq132
    @aminrafiq1322 жыл бұрын

    BRAVO!!!

  • @darlenecuker9711
    @darlenecuker97117 жыл бұрын

    This is very good.

  • @joyful
    @joyful Жыл бұрын

    this was great. 8 yo vid. can't believe i hadn't seen this before.

  • @lacrishakaufman
    @lacrishakaufman Жыл бұрын

    The woman at 33:00 made a communication blunder by taking your message about phones TOO personal! lol Classic example, on the spot!

  • @GenXatwork
    @GenXatwork Жыл бұрын

    The point about the device’s is interesting because I have seen leaders be the worst offenders looking at their phones or computer during netting’s or conversations.

  • @cliffcox7643
    @cliffcox76435 жыл бұрын

    haha, we used to call this "Command Presence", one of the qualities of leadership, as well as command voice, it's all from the military that was adopted by the civies. I detect no presence in the video, but the concepts are valid.

  • @sadhanaomYoga
    @sadhanaomYoga2 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much.

  • @InCog2020
    @InCog20209 жыл бұрын

    One thing I've noticed in so many of these Google talks is the number of people with their heads down, playing with their devices the whole time. I realize they work at Google, but there is such a thing as courtesy to the speaker. Perhaps it's a millennial thing?

  • @samahj8567

    @samahj8567

    8 жыл бұрын

    +gmecomber Its not a millennial thing.

  • @alexmontoya6384

    @alexmontoya6384

    5 жыл бұрын

    You don't know what it means to multi task or be busy. You just assume the worst

  • @philmcgroin

    @philmcgroin

    5 жыл бұрын

    Phil McGroin

  • @january8457

    @january8457

    Жыл бұрын

    @Incog. I agree it's a millennia thing, so disgusting!

  • @lacrishakaufman

    @lacrishakaufman

    Жыл бұрын

    @@january8457 It's really not though. Research show that just as many boomers and older generations have phone addictions.

  • @Zlata1Z
    @Zlata1Z Жыл бұрын

    42:42 appearance

  • @melissahicks3863
    @melissahicks38632 жыл бұрын

    I think it's really sad that she chose to get rid of her accent. I am from Eastern Kentucky and I have a strong accent of which I am proud. I would never try to change my accent because it represents my family and everything that I love. I have to say that I stopped listening to her discussion after learning that she chose to get rid of her accent.

  • @apoorvamahajan7576

    @apoorvamahajan7576

    2 жыл бұрын

    That is an individual call one makes! She is choosing to highlight what gets a person’s hard-work noticed and what can be the barriers to leadership opportunities because others have unconscious biases that can prevent you from reaching your true potential. And the insights she shares are based on research where others have responded, its not her own mindset she is trying to impose

  • @Lewis1k

    @Lewis1k

    Жыл бұрын

    Speaking clearly often times blurs those accents. Try listening to a fourth grader and streasing clarity volume and pace. You go from mumbling to clear communication.

  • @lacrishakaufman

    @lacrishakaufman

    Жыл бұрын

    And you proved her point exactly!

  • @ajjudge7983

    @ajjudge7983

    Жыл бұрын

    The problem is that in the UK of earlier decades (I speak as a 50-something Brit), class as defined through accent was a deal-breaker in professional spheres. Sad but true. We live in (somewhat) more enlightened times today. Another issue is that regional accents from the UK are often reported to be unintelligible in the US. I understand why Sylvia made her choice, based on those factors. And I'm thankful that the tide is turning now.

  • @whatyouneedtoknow
    @whatyouneedtoknow5 жыл бұрын

    You can find out more about Emotional Intelligence in this video kzread.info/dash/bejne/aXiWo8dyhJysnM4.html

  • @fiammettaantonino335
    @fiammettaantonino3355 жыл бұрын

    I'm sure her experience is world class and that she has some very important messages to deliver - that I personally agree with, but her expressions and mannerism look fake and completely not spontaneous. as an example she cracks a joke and smiles and 0.1 millisecond after the joke is over she is able to change her facial expression to a very serious expression, giving away that the joke just made was completely programmed and something used for the sole purpose of winning an audience. I think what a leader should have is a level of spontaneity and humbleness that makes other people relate with them. Besides this, all great content

  • @mikevismyelement

    @mikevismyelement

    5 жыл бұрын

    i fucking hate her. she is so fake

  • @enigma-yu4jo

    @enigma-yu4jo

    4 жыл бұрын

    Welcome to corporate America. Build a well designed facade for everyone to buy into

  • @briandotkoma3722

    @briandotkoma3722

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for this, you're right. Spontaneous leadership > programmed but some actors, are simply put: better actors ;) they do the same shit, some just come across more organic in their mannerisms and is not the whole of the corporate/political world a staged play with its own rules etc, where it turns into a game, where people go fully blown neurotic 'cuz they forget themselves through the process ... go ask any honest corporate "psychopath" or "narcissist"... Oh wait, they can't be "honest". Lmfao. Society, jeeze :) maybe ask a psychologist, oh wait. Nope, everything but science, and even science, comes down to an innate ability to believe yourself... and lets not start about how naive most people are if they are put in front of them a persona that hypnotizes them with their presence =:)

  • @meinungabundance7696

    @meinungabundance7696

    Жыл бұрын

    She IS prepared, but this does not mean that she has "mannerisms".

  • @jaydotdiver
    @jaydotdiver7 жыл бұрын

    Mitt Romney isn't watching this video though. Just sayin'

  • @lacrishakaufman

    @lacrishakaufman

    Жыл бұрын

    We can still learn from him though, huh?

  • @DarrenStephens1
    @DarrenStephens110 жыл бұрын

    People who aren't leaders and don't aspire to be leaders, people like geonerd, can feel free to dismiss this information out of hand. We don't listen to them, and they're not skillful enough to be compelling in any way, so we don't care what they haphazardly attempt to communicate. (That same lack of skill comes from 118Columbus's younger people who just have to "be themself.") Yes, geonerd, you've worked for people like Sylvia. You will never be a person like Sylvia, or be as successful as the people she has trained. Now get back to your loathing. Nothing for you here.

  • @fingerhorn4

    @fingerhorn4

    9 жыл бұрын

    Darren Stephens There is no loathing in geonard's INTELLIGENT assessment which, unlike your assessment of him, contains critical thinking, cogent observation and an unwillingnesss to be taken in by corpo-babble. As for the presentation, this woman delivers conflicting information. On the one hand she talks about "authenticity", yet in the same speech she replaces authenticity with the promotion of corporate pseudo psychology which is a combination of artificial "gravitas" through easily shattered "techniques" and the massaging of one's culture, accent and poise in order to sycophantically "please" those in positions of power with entirely shallow and one dimensional "adjustments".

  • @symphantic4552
    @symphantic45523 жыл бұрын

    F A B L U S

  • @pameladeniselong
    @pameladeniselong3 жыл бұрын

    Did she just say Affirmative Action after 200 years of slavery plus 100 more of Jim Crow was “unfair chance?” This didn’t age well.

  • @miskittt

    @miskittt

    3 жыл бұрын

    Please listen again before getting in a tizzy. She said that black people have to cross the white barrier of whites thinking that the only way a black person can have a little position is through affirmative action. She is damn correct on that.

  • @dunyacaliskan7495

    @dunyacaliskan7495

    2 жыл бұрын

    And 50 years of neither now. It is unfair. Make college affordable, enact decent social welfare programs, but do not impose racist quotas.

  • @kwikky22

    @kwikky22

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@dunyacaliskan7495 white people have no unfair advantages in America.

  • @kwikky22

    @kwikky22

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@TheSpark878 Her exact words: AA leaders say they realize they struggle with gravitas themselves. There is the specter of affirmative action. It is as if we have to interview for our jobs all the time because perhaps way back we got an unfair chance.

  • @Jennifer-ix7dk
    @Jennifer-ix7dk7 жыл бұрын

    At 50:00 what would you do if you were a woman. lol

  • @briandotkoma3722
    @briandotkoma37224 жыл бұрын

    Spontaneous leadership > programmed but some actors, are simply put: better actors ;) they do the same shit, the most intelligent won't buy into it, and know it's programmed and in a way unorganic, that's how she comes across, and sadly: she must have had a very rough childhood, trying to prove herself in comparison to "those at the bottom", which she "surpassed". This neo-liberal society sickens me. some just come across more organic in their mannerisms and is not the whole of the corporate/political world a staged play with its own rules etc, where it turns into a game, where people go fully blown neurotic 'cuz they forget themselves through the process ... go ask any honest corporate "psychopath" or "narcissist"... Oh wait, they can't be "honest". Lmfao. Society, jeeze :) maybe ask a psychologist, oh wait. Nope, everything but science, and even science, comes down to an innate ability to believe yourself... and lets not start about how naive most people are if they are put in front of them a persona that hypnotizes with a presence =:) thats why artists are cooler, they're actually honest in letting you know it's a facade, instead of tricking people into "who they truly are"

  • @RanmaSyaoranSaotome
    @RanmaSyaoranSaotome3 жыл бұрын

    What a pity she chose to trade her warm, rich Welsh accent for some RP anachronistic relic of the past.

  • @melissahicks3863

    @melissahicks3863

    2 жыл бұрын

    Totally agree!!

  • @montgisard7225
    @montgisard72252 жыл бұрын

    My icon is Santa Claus

  • @suemclennan8974
    @suemclennan8974 Жыл бұрын

    0

  • @whitepeoplergullible9241
    @whitepeoplergullible92414 жыл бұрын

    Imagine 100 percent of the population behaved like this. Useless leaders aping like they deserve a cut of some other useless facade.

  • @meinungabundance7696

    @meinungabundance7696

    Жыл бұрын

    But 100% dont have a genetic material to be a leader, so no worry.

  • @maristoldboys5466
    @maristoldboys54666 жыл бұрын

    She needs to verify her facts properly. Her example of Mandela charming the 1995 Rugby World Cup Champions, the South African Springboks who were supposedly 100% white is incorrect. Their star winger Chester Williams is a coloured man, as they say. Her delivery is also rather limp and uninteresting.

  • @valleylady9092

    @valleylady9092

    5 жыл бұрын

    Some of the facts she states regarding her own upbringing and education should be taken with a grain of salt too. 'Thick' working class Welsh accent! That is outrageous! And the school she attended...I attended there too....was a Grammar School! English Grammar was a core subject. Heaven knows why she feels the need to trash her home town, education, etc. One should never forget one's roots.

  • @briandotkoma3722

    @briandotkoma3722

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@valleylady9092 trashing it is not forgetting it, but she's obviously ashamed and is trying to deter a sense of self-insecurity

  • @dunyacaliskan7495

    @dunyacaliskan7495

    2 жыл бұрын

    And she suggests, by dint of by white, they were all oppressive to the colored people.

  • @sereine123
    @sereine1233 жыл бұрын

    Making sweeping generalizations on Asians - an incredibly diverse group - and African Americans - unfair advantage. If she truly thinks African Americans are given an unfair advantage because of affirmative action, then she needs to conduct more thorough research to give substance to her talks.

  • @pinokodayo

    @pinokodayo

    2 жыл бұрын

    I believe she was saying that in the research, many African American respondents expressed they often felt they had to continuously "interview" and continuously re-audition, or prove, their positions in leadership because *others* around them might seem to think they had an unfair advantage. I don't believe she was implying herself that she believes affirmative action gives African American leaders unfair advantage.

  • @lacrishakaufman

    @lacrishakaufman

    Жыл бұрын

    Listen next time, that's now that she said.

  • @ArrogantBaSStard
    @ArrogantBaSStard2 жыл бұрын

    I had to desperately get through her yelling and fakeness to just get the message.

  • @eztli
    @eztli5 жыл бұрын

    good talk, ruined by the cliched women victimization

  • @dddmmm21
    @dddmmm214 ай бұрын

    It was a good talk but poisoned but too much gender/race baits, and now we see 9 yrs later where it took us.

  • @maricelaleufontela1712
    @maricelaleufontela1712 Жыл бұрын

    The numerous and distracting "you know, right, so, fillersc contributed to her ineffectiveness as a speaker! It undermine her professional image as a subject matter expert. Itcwas excruciating painful to listen to her.

  • @bevjones5205
    @bevjones52054 жыл бұрын

    I NEEDED TO TAKE A DOUBLE LOOK BACK A THE DATE OF THIS VIDEO, ALTHOUGH, I DO NOT THINK IT MATTERS EITHER WAY. THIS IS A PERSON I WOULD NEVER WANT MY DAUGHTER OR SON TO LISTEN TO OR FOLLOW. I AM A WOMEN OF COLOR, BUT WHAT OR WHO IS SHE ATTEMPTING REPRESENT IN THIS MESSAGE. I BELIEVE THAT HER IDEOLOGY ABOUT PROFESSIONALISM AND LEADERSHIP, HER VIEWS ON POWER ARE SOMEWHAT WARPED, AS IT IS REFLECTED IN THIS SPEECH AND ITS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!! NO ONE ASPIRES TO REACH THE HEIGHTS OF SOME WHITE MAN'S HANGING FRUIT! KNEES DOWN AND CHIN UP, NO WOMAN, YOU ARE SO MISSING THE MARK. HOWEVER, I AGREE WITH HER AT 100.01 ABOUT THE FEEDBACK ON SHARING. OTHERWISE, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK WHAT WAS IN THAT GLASS..., NO REALLY?

  • @Elizabeth-fn9fd

    @Elizabeth-fn9fd

    3 жыл бұрын

    BEVY J I really wanted to read your comment but the “all CAPS” was off putting. I do agree with your first two sentences. I don’t find her credible at all.

  • @118Columbus
    @118Columbus10 жыл бұрын

    How old is this woman, Sylvia Hewitt? I am seeing aging and sagging skin, bags under the eyes, and other distracting signs of age. Google is a young organization. This talk is for the older boomer generation. The younger generations want people to be authentic and be real and just be yourself.

  • @johnchen6310

    @johnchen6310

    10 жыл бұрын

    I don't know what are you saying that she is old and not young. So are you like a youthful immortal? You will never age? Are you GOD? You pass judgement like GOD.

  • @julienradoff9680

    @julienradoff9680

    9 жыл бұрын

    ***** she should get some tats i guess

  • @johnchen6310

    @johnchen6310

    9 жыл бұрын

    Get some?

  • @ValleyoftheRogue

    @ValleyoftheRogue

    8 жыл бұрын

    She is now 70 years old. It isn't her looks that is her problem. Your fake concern about them is YOUR problem. My issue with Hewlett goes way back, when she was trashing the women's movement (and being dishonest to boot) while benefiting from the very real gains of that very movement. She is an elitist whose audience is an itty-bitty, almost negligible number of privileged women. This despite all of her claims of coming from a modest background. She doesn't care about the lives of real women.

  • @diegomoreno5927

    @diegomoreno5927

    7 жыл бұрын

    Yeah, like shouldn't she be raising funds for charity at a cocktail party? What's she doing cougar-ing the youth?

  • @robfrazier7854
    @robfrazier78549 ай бұрын

    she looks sickly and doesnt really have exec presence when speaking

  • @saturnjupiter8002
    @saturnjupiter80023 жыл бұрын

    mediocre talk, better presented in the 1980s

  • @saidfarid6382
    @saidfarid6382 Жыл бұрын

    Hello Professor Thank you so much for your interesting lecture,i do appreciate your job.I wish you peace and happness under the sky of prosperity. Take care and have a good time. All the best. Your Student from Algeria.

  • @briandotkoma3722
    @briandotkoma37224 жыл бұрын

    Spontaneous leadership > programmed but some actors, are simply put: better actors ;) they do the same shit, the most intelligent won't buy into it, and know it's programmed and in a way unorganic, that's how she comes across, and sadly: she must have had a very rough childhood, trying to prove herself in comparison to "those at the bottom", which she "surpassed". This neo-liberal society sickens me. some just come across more organic in their mannerisms and is not the whole of the corporate/political world a staged play with its own rules etc, where it turns into a game, where people go fully blown neurotic 'cuz they forget themselves through the process ... go ask any honest corporate "psychopath" or "narcissist"... Oh wait, they can't be "honest". Lmfao. Society, jeeze :) maybe ask a psychologist, oh wait. Nope, everything but science, and even science, comes down to an innate ability to believe yourself... and lets not start about how naive most people are if they are put in front of them a persona that hypnotizes with a presence =:) thats why artists are cooler, they're actually honest in letting you know it's a facade, instead of tricking people into "who they truly are"