Executive Presence

This one-day executive communication course covers how to project calm authority, inspire trust and hold attention in high-stakes situations. You will learn practical, embodied techniques to regulate your inner state, align body, mind and voice, and communicate credibility without performance gimmicks. The focus is on grounded presence and somatic tools that make you feel composed and be felt as credible under pressure, not on presentation “tricks”.

Traditionally, this level of work is only available in 1-to-1 executive coaching. We have distilled the core insights of high-level coaching into an intensive one-day experience. We combine the psychology of identity with the physiology of the nervous system to help you stop performing leadership and start embodying it.

Face to face (London) | One day | £1100 +VAT
Face to face (Dubai) | One day | $1200 +VAT
Live online (Zoom) | Two half-days | 10:00-13:30 London time | $950

Also available on request in US / Asia timezones.

Presence is not something you do.
It is something you transmit.

Executive Presence is not a public speaking course. There is no performance practice. It builds the internal foundations that make you compelling.

Some leaders walk into a room and inspire trust before they speak. We sense their authentic presence, composed authority and grounded clarity. These inner traits cannot be performed, but they can be trained. This advanced one-day course focuses on cultivating your executive “it factor”.

This intensive is for professionals who already speak well, but recognise the intangible return of executive presence for leadership impact. Embodied leadership strengthens public speaking, media interviews, meetings, pitches, negotiations and team performance. It also accelerates career progression: exceptional leaders rise faster because they show up as if they already belong at the next level.

The course draws on practical tools from somatic coaching, psychology, emotional agility and neurophysiological regulation, grounded in decades of experience coaching senior leaders.

Course content modules

Embodied leadership

How to level up from delivering well to being deeply felt.

The limits of technique-based performance
Transmission versus communication: why presence matters more than polish
Bridging the gap between skill-based performance and authority

Leading from your nervous system

How to manage your internal state for executive impact.

Why nervous system awareness is a core leadership skill
Recognising and working with your inner state, not against it
Developing emotional agility in yourself and others

Leading from your mind–body

What it means to embody leadership and how to do it.

Why openness works better than control
Aligning values, voice and visible behaviour
Leading with ease as an antidote to stress and burnout

Practical techniques for embodied presence

How to embed leadership presence into real situations and daily routines.

Self-regulation techniques to prepare for key meetings and moments
Simple tools to recover clarity after difficult conversations
Developing long-term habits that reinforce credibility and composure

Who should attend?

This course is for managers, executives and high-potential leaders who are already effective communicators but know there is a deeper level of impact available.

It is ideal for those who want to move from being competent and convincing to being authoritative and inspiring. It is especially valuable for leaders who find that their effectiveness requires excessive preparation, energy or control, and who want a more natural, powerful and sustainable way to lead.

What you will learn

After this course you will be able to:

Regulate your inner state to perform and respond under pressure
Maintain calm, grounded presence in high-stakes moments
Inspire trust through authentic, embodied authority
Cultivate emotional agility and intentional response
Motivate change by speaking in a way people feel, not just hear
Recognise and release tension that constrains focus and impact
Drop into flow and composure more easily
Feel ready and relaxed in ways that are visibly felt by others
Transmit steadiness that teams instinctively mirror
Diffuse stress and tension into grounded executive presence

Meet your trainers

Will Hardie

Will is a psychologist, journalist, strategist and coach with 25 years’ experience in 50+ countries. He holds an Oxford Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology and is a former Reuters foreign correspondent and senior editor. Will is one of the world’s leading communications advisors. He has led projects to create communication strategies for national governments and bluechip corporations. He spent six years as chief advisor on communications for a well-known Prime Minister. He has advised and coached hundreds of CEOs, cabinet ministers and top leaders across Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Will is a Managing Partner at ISOC, where he specialises in executive coaching, public speaking, media training, crisis, positioning and strategy. He also works as a psychologist specialising in trauma, deconditioning, relationships and interpersonal communication.

Eva Di Pierro

Eva is a leadership coach and somatic specialist who supports senior executives and leadership teams to develop emotional clarity, grounded presence and sustainable influence. With over 15 years of experience in somatic psychology, coaching and executive facilitation, she helps leaders navigate complexity and pressure with greater self-awareness and relational intelligence. She is a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and is completing advanced training in Bodynamic Analysis. Her work draws on somatic psychology, adult development and leadership theory, and is shaped by international experience across Europe, the United States and Asia. Eva designs and delivers coaching and leadership programmes that focus on regulation, embodied decision-making and team dynamics. She is known for her calm presence, clarity and ability to help high-performing leaders lead with integrity.