A missing link for how women are building feminine leadership presence is that they are leading with convincing energy, not conviction energy.

While presence and visibility is a hot topic in business, I want to delve a layer deeper and explain a concept I have seen show up in brilliant women within my 15+ years experience coaching female leaders and in leadership development.

Often, this happens with women who hold a seat at the table or who have significant influence in their companies and with their clients, and they reach a stage where they feel like a fraud, and operating from a place of exhaustion.

Leading from Brilliance

Many women are leading from burnout, rather than their brilliance.

Here is what happens:

The woman building sustainable feminine leadership presence who energetically holds herself to a high standard in her expertise, knowledge and wisdom and is not afraid of showing up as herself, leads from conviction energy.

She shows up in flow and being seen as influential comes naturally to her. She is well liked and respected, and rather than focusing on climbing the corporate ladder or growing her business, she instead is building a body of work and reputation around her expertise which is a natural progression for her because she is rooted in her identity.

She is rested, restored and leads from a space of rejuvenation.

She holds soft power, an energetic signature that is inviting. She gets asked to speak, to share her ideas and her wisdom. She leads with both her intuitive genius and intellect which guides her to be a natural authority as she blends both worlds.

Rather than focusing on visibility, she focuses on capability.

Depending her knowledge by putting her wisdom at the forefront of who she is and how she leads. She knows and is embodied in what she brings life: her identity, her voice, her mission and essence. She knows her work is meaningful and is energised by her work.

What happens when you lead from Convincing Energy

On the other hand, the leader who is on the verge of burnout shows up with force, often feeling like she is pushing her influence uphill and spinning her wheels and not making traction in her work leads from convincing energy.

In aiming to advance her career or business, her true essence is often pushed aside, stepping into a facade with the intention of growth. Perhaps taking on the “fake it until you make it” mindset.

She feels she needs to be seen as powerful, and often invests in female empowerment coaching and visibility training. But it is not landing for her and she is often wondering why she isn’t moving the needle, growing her business or getting that next promotion.

In fact, she feels like she needs to prove herself and this shows in her tone of voice, in her writing and in meetings where she aches to be seen and heard. This leads to over sharing, leading only with her intellect while her intuitive genius is not being fully explored.

Many women desire meaningful work, but have stayed on a path that has felt comfortable. This is work often you know and are good at, but perhaps your heart and true genius is aching to be stepped into. There could be a part of you that feels disconnected, and it shows in your leadership.

Being the woman leading with Conviction

Being a woman who leads her work and life from conviction energy, holds a different frequency in how she sees and leads herself. There is no pushing, or striving or performative led leadership.

Instead, there is a deep sense of presence that ripples through her work and life. She leads with her whole self, and those around her feel the shift.

This is where leadership becomes a frequency, a state of being. Not a force, coming from a place of doing.

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