How to Leave a Lasting Impression on the C-Suite

It’s true. Getting access to members of the C-suites is a challenge. Even being a successful mid-level executive doesn’t guarantee direct time with them. The easier option would be to spend time lamenting your fate. But imagine this: what if you bumped into a senior leader one day in the elevator or your office pantry and they asked, ‘Hey, how are things?’ What would you do with this chance, perhaps your only chance, to leave an impression?

Less is More

Here’s where most people, my younger self included, get it wrong. They believe that offering every possible piece of information helps the C-suite to make an informed impression. The casual question is then answered with a list of achievements, a very condensed performance evaluation or the mountain of ideas the C-suite needs to know you have. What does this achieve? What will they remember from this short encounter, if anything at all?

Think about it: Why should they take the time to absorb all this information from someone they’ve just met or barely know? Would you do that if the tables were turned?

Take time to get clear on what it is you want to relay to the C-suite before you get two minutes with them. Pick one thing you want them to remember you for. Select one key finding you want to share and structure your presentation to support this. Yes, you may be doing a hundred other things. And yes, you may have analysed over 10 different scenarios to arrive at this insight you’re about to share. But so what?

The goal here is to occupy a small part of the C-suite’s brain by leaving an impression so that they associate this one chosen task, idea or value with you. What you say in the two minutes should support this.

Read the Room

Consider the business context the senior leader is receiving your information in. Perhaps your conversation starts at the end of a quarter and they have missed their targets. Perhaps tough staffing decisions need to be made soon. If you approach them with something that isn’t relevant to the outcomes they currently seek to drive, your work could be brilliant, could actually be extremely useful to the organisation and it wouldn’t matter. Simply because you got the timing and context completely wrong. Not only does your great piece of work get trashed, the C-suite might label you as someone who doesn’t have business sense. Or worse, someone to avoid.

One of the best ways around this is to think of the C-suite as an important client you’re looking to impress. Just as you would for your client, spend some time doing research to understand what they value, what they loathe, what their priorities are. You can then personalise your message to show them how you can help them to drive their desired outcomes. And be assured that you aren’t wasting rare opportunities with bad timing.

Close the Loop

If there comes a point in the discussion where a senior leader asks a question and you respond ‘I’ll come back to you,” do just that. Make this part of your to do list so that it isn’t overlooked in your frenzied work day. If it’s something you’ve promised, close the loop. These things get noticed.

It’d be myopic to think that making an impression on a C-suite rests solely on the number of hours or minutes of direct contact with them. What happens beyond the meeting matters so much more.

Namely, developing executive presence or your personal brand. Your ability to inspire confidence with not just higher management, but also your peers and subordinates. Their impressions of your attitude and behaviours. For example, do they think you’re a leader that is worth following? Are you someone your boss should persuade the organisation to invest in?

And even though it’s critical to career success, it’s something nobody really talks about because it’s been made to seem like something one is born with. That you either have it or don’t. But this is not the case. Like all other skills, it can be learned and developed with dedication and focus.

Develop Expertise

Most people focus on this: developing an expertise in their field, knowledge to bring to the table. And this is great. However, most fail to recognise that this is only a baseline.

And this is risky because all businesses go through their peaks and troughs. Building knowledge is important because it earns you respect, which you’ll be rewarded for when the going is good. But it’s not enough when things are tough. When you haven’t made your numbers or you haven’t been able to perform as well for unforeseen medical reasons. If you bank solely on substance and knowledge, and haven’t taken the time to establish your character and likability, things will fall out of your favour fast in tough times.

Character and Likability

Most large organisations are politically gridlocked. And whether you agree with it or not, you’re not going to be able to do this alone, armed with only knowledge. You also need other people and for that, they have to like you for your character, for who you are.

For them to know you, your personal values need to be clear. You need to stick to this no matter what. If there’s something you don’t believe in, take a stand without being abrasive or disrespecting your colleague with the opposing view. For example, let’s say your personal rule, like mine, is not to talk smack about previous bosses. If your current boss starts asking probing questions, you can simply and nicely say that it isn’t something you’re comfortable with. Your current boss then gets a sense of who you truly are and what you stand for.

This is something you need to work at consistently. In fact, demonstrating a few core values consistently will get you further than someone who might be twice as virtuous as you, but was only awesome a fraction of the time.

The consistency helps to reinforce what your colleagues associate you with, thus cementing your personal brand. And if you finally do get to meet a senior leader, they aren’t building an impression of you from scratch.

Appearance and Style

You can go in with the rhetoric that your work will speak for itself, that it shouldn’t matter how you’re dressed. I get it. But remember you aren’t the one leading the business -- it’s someone else.

So even if it seems superficial to you, it helps to be a little sensitive to what they value. Be conscious of how people dress and speak at specific events, how they want to come across. The impression you leave on the C-suite starts way before your actually meeting and everything little thing counts.

1 Pick One Thing the C-Suite Should Remember

Set aside 30 minutes to map out all the things you might want to share and pick one thing. Frame your pitch to show the C-suite how this trait or idea helps them.

2 Do Your Research

Take some time to get to know what the C-suite values so you can personalise your message. Read interviews or better yet, talk to people who work directly with them.

3 Define Your Personal Brand

Get specific about three values you want to stand for and map out behaviours you start to demonstrate to help your colleagues to associate you with these values. If you are the product, what would be your ad copy? How do you want your product to be known? Write down your personal ad copy and commit it to memory