You can be in the room without being present.
And most leaders are.
I’ve been in thousands of meetings over 25 years – pit road strategy sessions, boardrooms, leadership offsites, etc.
And the most expensive mistake I’ve ever watched leaders make wasn’t a bad strategy.
It wasn’t a bad hire.
It was being somewhere else while being with their team.
That’s the quiet problem with Presence.
It’s the pillar everyone thinks they’ve already mastered because they showed up. They’re in the chair. They’re on the call. They responded to the thread.
But showing up isn’t Presence.
Presence is the second pillar of my E.P.I.C. Framework and it may be the most misunderstood (and critical) of all four.
Here’s how I define it:
P — Presence: Being in the ‘now’ and not distracted by the ‘next’
This drives how do we show up in meetings, conversations, and under pressure.
Not if you show up. How.
In racing, there’s a truth every driver knows and I learned from a great friend who is a professional race car driver and team owner, Kevin Conway:
“The race car goes where your eyes go.”
Wherever you’re focused that’s where the car moves.
Now think about your last leadership conversation.
Where were your eyes?
Were you half-listening, mentally drafting your response? Glancing at the screen? Waiting for your turn to talk?
Because your team feels exactly where your attention is (and isn’t) and they’re making quiet decisions about their trust in you based on what they observe.
A distracted leader sends a message: You’re not that important right now.
A present leader sends a completely different one: You have my full attention. What you say matters.
The Hidden Cost of Low Presence
Here’s what gets missed when leaders aren’t fully present:
- The early warning signal someone tried to raise – but didn’t feel heard enough to push
- The creative idea that never got air time
- The team member quietly disengaging, one meeting at a time
- The opportunity that passed because no one was truly paying attention
Presence isn’t soft. It’s strategic.
It creates psychological safety.
It’s what allows your team to tell you the truth. And it separates leaders who build high-trust cultures from those wondering why their team’s performance has plateaued.
🔧 ACTION STEP 1 – Individual Diagnostic
📊 ACTION STEP 2 – Reality Check
This week, choose ONE recurring meeting and run a Presence Audit.
Before it starts – phone face-down, laptop closed – write down one intention: What am I genuinely listening for today?
After it ends, ask yourself: What did I learn that I didn’t know before I walked in?
If the answer is nothing, your Presence standard needs a pit stop.
🏁 ACTION STEP 3 — Team Exercise
Pull your leadership team together this week and ask one question:
“When do you feel most heard by the leaders above you and what does that look, sound, and feel like?”
Then listen. Without fixing. Without redirecting. Without defending.
What surfaces will tell you everything about where your team’s collective Presence standard actually lives and whether you’re operating on Performance Assumptions or true Performance Alignment.
Because Presence isn’t just an individual behavior.
It’s a team standard.
And high-performance teams don’t assume it – they define it together.
Here’s the question I’ll leave you with this Friday:
What would change on your team – in trust, performance, and connection – if you showed up fully present? Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally?
Drop your thoughts below. I read every one.