As a new joiner, how to demonstrate confidence and executive presence?

Question

Post MBA, without consulting experience, I joined my new firm for a few weeks as a consultant. My manager gave me feedback that I should “elevate myself a bit, and be more confident and authoritative in team meetings”.

My struggle is that as I'm quite new to the firm, I'm still ramping up my learning. Lots of times I'm still unfamiliar of how things should be done in my firm & in the consulting industry. I guess it is this sense of “unfamiliarity and uncertainty” that make me seem less confident.

Would like to seek your feedback particularly on how to be confident and authoritative, even in a new environment where you are quite unfamiliar with how things are done? Are there any tips please?

Answer 1

Hi there,

This is indeed not an easy fix.

In short, you just need to do more of it and with time you're going to get better. Like with anything in life.

Aside from this, what I would do is the following:

Ask the manager who gave you that feedback if they have any practical pointers
Ask for advice on this from more Partner level mentors you might have in the firm. They might be able to help you more than your manager.
Identify who you find represent that image of confidence that you would like to emulate. Study them. Approach them and ask them for mentorship.

Best,

Cristian

Answer 2

Hi there,

I always hated this feedback. Honestly, it makes no sense. How can you be confident if you don't know what the heck you're talking about?

My honest view is tell them “yes yes you're right I'll work on this” and then focus on learning. As in, learn the content. Learn the client. Learn the consulting toolkit.

It's ridiculous to say “be confident” without knowing anything…that's called ego/arrogance!

Rather, build up those skills + knowledge as fast as you can…the confidence will naturally follow once you actually know what you're doing :)

Answer 3

Hello,

Great question, and it's certainly an issue a lot of us have struggled with! My recommendations would be:

- Learn as much as you can, as fast as you can. Ask your colleagues questions, observe how they demonstrate executive presence, etc.

- Be proactive on the job: volunteer to take on certain tasks, make suggestions on how to take your workstream forward.

- Try to become an expert on your own workstream, as Clara suggested.

Answer 4

Hello!

I totally feel you, this is a feedback that almost everyone of us got, particularly at the beginning (and those without consulting or similar experiences).

Reality is that it comes with practice, and with time you are going to get so much better. Something that truly helped me was owning my piece very well, so I could speak with full confidence when it was about something related to that. For big presentations, rehearsing with someone to be more top-down and to the point also helps.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 5

Hi there,

you are at the consultant level given your performance during the recruiting process and your expertise. Now you have to just feel confident with what you know and accept that you will learn what you still dont know about the firm over time. I guess all it comes to the healthy self-esteem, which from my experience as BCG internal coach can be an issue. I would be happy to support you if you would want to explore the topic during 1 coaching session.

In the meantime I would encourage you to write down all your achievements and all of what you are proud of until now (professionally speaking). Include all that YOU are proud of even if nobody recognized it. This may help you to boost your confidence.

Good luck

Lucie

Was this answer helpful?

Answer 6

This is not feedback on your knowledge, but on your communication skills.

So let me share a quick hack to solve this. To sound more confident, you should SPEAK LOUDER. While a a bit faster may be an issue, usually is just a matter of volume. If possible stand up and be a bit more energetic (speak faster), but what is a must is that you SPEAK LOUDER.