Why is this subject, “Power Poise and Presence,” important in the world?
Leadership is lonely and complex, and the world needs great leaders, but no one teaches you how to be a leader. Most people are uncomfortable when they are thrown into a leadership role, but every single person on the planet is a leader, perhaps just a reluctant or recalcitrant leader. Understanding biomarkers can help people lead themselves and others.
What is the pressing issue, right, and how are you addressing it?
There’s a lack of women in the highest levels of leadership (only 8% of C-level leaders in Fortune 500 companies are women). Despite women being half the workforce, ~50 Fortune 500 companies are led by women. The data shows women are failing to advance, and companies are suffering. The International Labor Organization highlights having more women in decision-making roles improves business profitability, but women, when found in leadership roles, are more likely to be in support management functions as opposed to strategic leadership functions, which serve as the springboard to CEO roles.
To get into leadership roles and stay there, leaders need to be seen as powerful, poised amid uncertainty, and confident to handle any situation. It’s not only women who struggle to be seen or feel like leaders. Men face unique leadership challenges like staying poised amid emotions or when uncertainty strikes, which can bring out the worst in all of us. Men can fear others’ perceptions of what or how they should be and suit up with a fake version of power, poise, and presence. Anything fake is prone to cause stress and anxiety. The way to address this is to deconstruct individual leadership qualities and teach people so everyone can be on equal footing.
Lizette Warner Biography
What is your background in this subject?
I quit my telecom job to switch gears and apply my technical savvy to biomedical challenges. I studied at the Mayo Clinic, and after a harrowing adventure of moving states with a growing family, my husband lost his job, throwing my entire graduate dream at the Clinic into a penniless nightmare trying to figure out how to pay for our living expenses on a graduate student’s income. We survived that adventure leading to my journey as a healthcare scientist and leader with a background in studying biomarkers from my Mayo Clinic days. Since 2010 I’ve worked in HealthTech in Radiation Oncology and served on the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) task group for quantitative biomarkers. Industry and life experiences taught me that I have excellent coaching skills. For the past 7+ years, with my professional coaching certification from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), I’ve fused my healthcare knowledge with my executive coaching training in helping people grasp their emotions, sensations, and experiences to realize they have control of their biomarkers, leading them to have a profound impact in shaping the way they tackle their leadership challenges.
What is something that most people don’t know about you?
Most people don’t know that every year I go on a retreat. My retreat is a time to get away from work, my coaching, and all my responsibilities to reflect on my past, present, and future. I discovered biomarkers and how the book concept came to me because retreats are idea-birthing grounds.
What are your passions outside of your career?
I’m passionate about helping people advance in their careers. Outside of my healthcare career, I am a leadership coach, I am on a swim team, and I sing in the choir. I love hiking and thinking up curious ways to help people.
Are there any social causes that you believe in and support?
I grew up with my dad sponsoring kids in other countries and providing for the poor in his home country. He’d collect equipment, clothes, and goods and take them to the poor in Mexico. I’ve taken his example, but I sponsor a couple of kids, one in Mexico and one in the Philippines. I encourage them by writing them letters, and I love getting their letters telling me what they are learning. It’s my small way of helping form better leaders from the ground up.
What is next for you?
Since I shared that I go on retreats and what rich birthing grounds they are, what’s next for me is inviting people to head off on a retreat with me. I’m planning workshops, wellness activities, and some general decompression and merry-making for others to join me on retreat.
Power Poise and Presence
Tell me about your book.
Power, Poise, and Presence is a tactical handbook on leadership traits we all have and have probably not probed. I teach people about leadership biomarkers in the book. Intuitively we understand what biomarkers are.
We say you have a fever when your temperature is high (biomarker). The biomarker (temperature) points to disease. Your temperature doesn’t change until the infection passes. Eventually, your temperature returns to normal, signaling recovery. The temperature biomarker indicates health. These biomarkers are one-way streets pointing to health or disease; we can’t instantaneously change our temperature and turn disease into health without some intervention.
People say you have no executive presence when you fumble with your words and are nervous when giving a speech. The biomarkers (fumbling with words and nervousness) indicate a lack of confidence or executive presence. The difference is these biomarkers are reversible, i.e. you can change your confidence by engaging the biomarkers that point to confidence and/or your executive presence. The trick is to discover your specific biomarkers connected to confidence, executive presence, or whatever trait you are looking to exude.
The book not only helps people discover their unique biomarkers for power, poise, and presence, it helps people discover tools in each of these areas, culminating in authentic leadership traits that can be applied at work, at home, and to help others (children or colleagues) discover their unique leadership traits.
Jacqueline Baker on The Unexpected Leader Exclusive Interview(Opens in a new browser tab)
Where can people buy the book?
Folks can go to my website, https://www.lizettewarner.com/powerpoiseandpresence, and find all the available outlets for my book. They can grab one on my website if they are interested in an autographed copy. The book is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo, and most major booksellers.
