So, you want to get ahead, really make it beyond where you are professionally and perhaps even personally today? I am often asked to define the true keys to success by my executive leadership clientele.

It's very simple: you are the key to your own success! You can be communicating with your board president or your wife. It doesn't matter. The presence you project, and it matters immensely, will have a direct effect on the level of success you so strongly desire.

Although you may be both well-versed and well-prepared in your subject, what always will take precedent is your nonverbal demeanor. This nonverbal demeanor arises from your sense of your self - the concepts you hold true about you. And, if you are selling anything from a brand new concept to an innovative product, it behooves you to increase your awareness of your own, unique presence because it alone will affect your success.

According to the top recruiters, leadership presence is probably the single most important factor in your ability to become a top executive. While an individual's grooming and dress shape how he or she is perceived, presence involves more than just the physical.

It's wise to look at your levels of confidence, energy and communication skills because they are essential. Executives with presence assert themselves, offer a hand first, ask questions and appear interested. They are self-confident and gracious and can conduct a conversation with people at a variety of levels.

According to 160 top executive recruiters, presence is a package of eight key factors:

o Focus (commitment to the long term and big picture) 93.4%*

o Intellect (ability to view an issue from many different perspectives) 89.5%

o Charisma (ability to demonstrate intensity and remain caring) 86.9%

o Communication Skills (how they communicate, not merely what they communicate) 82.9%

o Passion (there are no reluctant leaders) 81.7%

o Culture Fit (demonstrate keen sense of organization's values) 76.8 %

o Poise (relaxed composure in all business situations) 74.5%

o Appearance (act the part in attire and grooming) 68.1%

• This number indicates the percentage of recruiters who indicated that this factor was very important in determining a candidate's "Executive Presence," From The Road to CEO, by Sharon Voros.

Why not take this one week out to pay attention to the role that your sense about your Self is currently play in attaining your own success? What level of leadership presence do you currently project? Can you still grow and improve? How honest can you be to make the changes necessary to improve.