Beyond Soft Skills: Training Executive Presence for Tomorrow’s Leaders
Hi,
Executive presence isn’t just about being confident. It’s about being clear, intentional, and grounded in how you communicate, especially when you’re stepping into leadership.
Last week, I had the privilege of leading Bootcamp 3: Communication Mastery for participants of the Leela Leadership Development Program (LLDP), hosted at the Indian School of Hospitality . This group represents the next generation of managers and leaders across The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts properties. And the goal was simple:
Equip them with practical tools to lead through communication.
Here’s what we focused on:
🔹 Vocal & Visual Presence
We decoded how leaders look and sound the part, from body language and vocal tone to how you enter a room. Because executive presence is less about performance, and more about alignment between thought, speech, and presence.
🔹 Conversational Frameworks
We introduced practical structures that make speaking, especially under pressure, easier, faster, and clearer:
These aren’t scripts, they’re thinking tools.
🔹 Professional Email Writing
We broke down real hospitality emails and rewrote them using my POWER method:
POWER = Plan, Organize, Write, Edit, Rewrite.
It’s the backbone of every clear, professional message, whether it’s an email, a report, or a proposal. Skip a step, and it shows.
Clarity, tone, structure, all designed to reflect credibility and build client trust, even over email.
What I appreciated most was the curiosity in the room. These weren’t just hospitality professionals, they were future GMs, department heads, and experience designers. And they understood something critical: leadership is communicated long before it’s titled.
Whether you’re a new manager or grooming one, communication isn’t a soft skill. It’s a leadership skill.
Love,
Ridhi
P.S.
If you’re building a leadership pipeline in your hotel, hospitality school, or corporate team and want to embed real-world communication techniques into your L&D strategy, let’s talk.
📩 DM me or write to: ridhisaluja96@gmail.com
Follow me along my journey as a business communications consultant, subscribe to Crafted by Ridhi!