This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Executive presence gets described as something you either have or you do not. It is actually about fifteen specific behaviours, and every one of them can be named.

Why the vague version of this advice fails

People are told to be more confident, more strategic, more visible. None of that is actionable, so nothing changes, and the person concludes it is a personality problem. It usually is not. It is that they have never been shown the list — which competencies senior credibility is actually assembled from, what happens in their body two seconds before they speak, what scale they are being read against in a high-stakes room, and why the same argument lands differently depending on who is facilitating. I spent years assuming the people with presence knew something I did not. They mostly had specific habits.

What this course actually covers

Six blocks, from the inventory to the room. First, the competency map: which behaviours make up professional credibility, from listening and influence to accountability, ethics and admitting a mistake without losing authority. Second, the internal layer — noticing your own reaction before it becomes your answer, the effect you have on a group, and changing a communication habit rather than masking it. Third, the assessed conversation: how high-stakes assessment is designed, the scorecard, how bias is controlled, and how the final comparison is made. Fourth, communicating to people who are not in the room — audiences, channels, bad news, and measuring whether the message landed. Fifth, facilitation: preparing, running and closing a session where several participants outrank you. Sixth, leadership itself: matching style to person, motivating from task to feedback, inspiring a team, and saying no.

A note on the material

Eighteen of the thirty-eight lessons were recorded inside a people-management frame: competency models, interviewing from the assessor's side, internal communications from the function that owns it. That works in your favour here. Competency models give the one thing generic advice never does — an actual list of what presence is made of. And seeing an assessment conversation from the assessor's chair tells you the scale you are read against.

Who is teaching this

I am Mike Pritula. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn, and I have worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank. More than 1.6 million students have enrolled in my courses across 185 countries, and over 150,000 specialists have gone through my programmes. I hold PHRi and SHRM-CP certifications and represent HRCI in more than ten countries.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all 38 lessons

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Working material: the competency inventory, the STAR structure and scorecard, message templates, the facilitation agenda, the leadership style model

• Practical exercises you run on your own next meeting rather than on a case study

Where to start

Record yourself in your next team meeting, audio only, and listen to two minutes of it. Whatever makes you wince is the specific thing this course works on, and it will not be your personality. Enrol now and start today.