Lionesses and Executive Presence. Part 3: Preparation and Practice

So far in this series, we’ve looked at intuition and observation – two skills honed by any successful lioness – and any effective leader. The third essential lesson a lioness imparts to her cubs, and a leader to her/his team is the power of preparation. Just as young lions play-fight, stalk bugs, and chase birds – all rehearsals for the real hunts and fights of adulthood – responsible leaders practice and prepare relentlessly so that when the big moment comes, they can perform with poise. In leadership as in the wild, there is no substitute for being prepared.

Preparation is nothing less than foundational; it’s the training ground where instinct is honed and observation is sharpened. It might mean acquiring knowledge, practising a skill, or simulating scenarios so that when reality strikes, you’re ready. By the time a lioness has to take down a wildebeest for survival, she’s pounced thousands of times in play. Similarly, by the time a CEO must navigate a crisis, ideally they’ve run through countless smaller challenges and “dry runs” that prepared them for that trial.

Those endless data demos I mentioned in previous parts were not just a means to (hopefully) win clients; they were lessons that trained us. With each custom demo, breakthrough or end-of-road experience, we got better at handling messy data, fielding tough questions, and demonstrating tangible value. In effect, we were running a free – but invaluable – ‘training academy’ for so many stakeholders. By the time more open-minded, paying corporate customers started to come around, we had ready, sleek processes and poised experts who could exceed expectations fast. The strength and corporate memory from so many dry runs meant we could deliver confidently under pressure. In short, we prepared and practised for when the door opened, even if we couldn’t predict exactly when or for whom it would.

In our earlier start-up we put 70% of our time and resources in R&D i.e. in private venture work – and only 30% in work which was needed and paid by customers. A sales cycle could be as long as four years! You couldn’t always choose the timing of opportunities – but you could choose to be prepared.

One vivid example of the importance of preparation and practice is a story I include in my forthcoming book. It involves a talented manager who, despite her competence and industry experience was struggling with her executive presence. She’d been told she was too reticent – she rarely spoke up and seemed to wait for permission to take the lead. This frank feedback initially devastated her, but to her credit, she took it to heart. She forced herself to start doing things outside her comfort zone: she started to speak up in meetings (even if only tentatively at first) and gradually she volunteered for more visible roles. Bit by bit, this practice built her confidence.

Her big test came when she had to present to a new board known for its intimidating, newly appointed two sharp-tongued directors who were experts in turnarounds in crisis – and the kind who might publicly humiliate you if they had any slight perception that you don’t know your stuff. Understandably, she was terrified – but she fell back on her thorough preparation. She asked herself: What can I control here? Two main things, she decided: her mastery of the material and her personal presentation. So, she immersed herself into mastering the topic until she could anticipate virtually every question.  She also put careful thought into her presence – from choosing a professional outfit that gave her extra confidence, to planning how she would enter the room and how she would address the audience. Those preparations became her armour. When the day came, she delivered her view of the options for the business with poise and conviction;  and when grilled with tough questions, she held her ground calmly.

By controlling what she could – knowledge and comportment – she earned the respect of that boardroom. The experience was sharp and vivid for everyone in the room that day; not only did she succeed in that moment, but her overall executive presence went through the roof. She proved to herself that preparation breeds confidence. In essence, practice liberated her instinct to move forward – because she had prepared so well, she could let her natural insight and personality get through in the best way possible, without fear.

Her story reinforces a simple truth: executive presence is often built long before the spotlight is on. The calm, authoritative figure you see delivering a keynote or handling a crisis gracefully has likely spent countless unseen hours preparing – researching facts, rehearsing messages, even visualising different scenarios. That behind-the-scenes work creates a reservoir of confidence to draw on in the moment. As the saying goes (often attributed to athletes and soldiers), “You don’t rise to the occasion; you fall back on your training.” In leadership, if you have trained yourself and your team thoroughly, then when the occasion arises you will simply execute what you’ve practised – and that looks like grace under pressure to everyone else watching.

The lions and lionesses in the wild teach us that steady preparation is what makes those bursts of brilliant performance possible. When opportunity prowls into our path, it’s too late to start practicing; so we either prepared for this, or we didn’t. Any professional, not only those at the top, who internalise this lesson tend to have a sense of readiness and calm (at least on the surface!). You see those great leaders in time of crisis, in particular, they don’t panic easily, because on some level they’ve been there before.

Good lessons for everyone at any stage in their development:  when investing time in preparation, we are not only improving our skills – we are also signalling to our teams and organisations that we take success seriously. That in itself inspires confidence.

In the fourth part of this series, I’ll look at how educating others, investing in people, and perseverance (the qualities that extend beyond the self) round out the ‘lioness approach’ to leadership, and how all these elements together feed into that elusive quality called executive presence.

In case you have missed Part 1 and Part 2, here they are: