143. How to Lead the Room as a CEO

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Hello and welcome to this episode of Ways to Change the Workplace with myself Prina Cha. I love what I do. I'm a global leadership coach, a consultant, a trainer, a keynote speaker, a podcaster. I help you to develop your leaders, your teams, and I help you to optimize your organizational cultures. I'm here to help you find ways to change your workplace. Why? Because we spend more time in our waking day at work than we do with our loved ones. It has to be a good place to be. So in this podcast, you can expect a mix of interviews with amazing thought leaders and then some solo episodes from myself as well. Hello, hello, and welcome to this solo episode of the Ways to Change Your Workplace podcast with me, your host, Prina Shah. And today I want to talk about what does it mean to lead the room as a CEO? Why am I talking about it? Because of the fact that I'm working with lots of executive teams at the moment, and I am helping uh fair few CEOs to really take charge and lead the room. So I thought, hey, why not share this episode with you? So, what does it mean to lead the room as a CEO? Okay, leading the room isn't just about walking in and taking command because of your job title. It's about creating an environment where your presence shifts the energy, where people engage not out of obligation but out of inspiration. It's about showing up with the confidence to ask the right questions, the wisdom to embrace silence, and the influence to guide without dictating. I know there's a lot there, yeah. It's strategic leadership at its finest. A balance between commanding authority and creating collaboration is quite the skill. So, why is it important for CEOs to master such a skill? Let's start with what happens if you don't master this skill. If you can't lead the room, the room will lead you instead. Whether it's your executive team or your board, if you fail to create an atmosphere where people are energized, engaged, and inspired, you're not just losing control of the conversation, you're losing the ability to steer your organization in the right direction. It leads to decision-making bottlenecks, a lack of ownership from your own executive team, and ultimately, at the worst case, underperformance at every level of the business. So, on the flip side, if you do master how to lead the room, it's quite the skill, the benefits are massive. You will inspire more insightful conversations and better decision making. Your team will be more invested in solutions rather than constantly you know drowning and delving into the problems. You will create a ripple effect where your leadership style cascades down the organization, improving culture, engagement, and performance. You will command not just respect but loyalty as well. Your people will follow because they want to, not because they have to. That's what we all want, especially CEOs, right? So, in short, you're not just leading a meeting, you are setting the tone for how your entire organization shows up to challenges. So, how to lead the room. I've got a few techniques for you. Let's break it down. Enter like you belong there. So, what do I mean by this? Walk into the room with purpose, pause, survey the room, and breathe. It sets the stage for control without arrogance, making you appear intentional and focused. There's really something about the presence of someone as soon as they walk into the room. We can all feel it, you know what I'm talking about. So, literally, practice pausing before you enter the room. Take control of your energy and set the tone from the get-go, from the start. The second point: lead with questions, not answers. And I state this because here I'm really talking about the hippo effect, the highest paid person's opinion in the room, the hippo effect. I think that's what it stands for. Anyway, you know what it is. So, ask questions that open minds, challenge assumptions, and encourage creative thinking. Why? Because it shifts the focus from you to the collective power of the room and their brains. Your team feels heard, respected, and challenged. Positively challenging your team is excellent. So, before your next meeting, prepare some thought-provoking, open-ended questions that no one expects and see where you end up. The third point I really want to talk to is to own your silences. Resist the urge to fill the silence, to fill that void. Let your pauses carry weight. There's such an important strength in enabling silence and letting silence be your friend. Silence forces people to think deeply and to take ownership of their own responses. It also makes your words more impactful when you do speak. So after asking a question, count to five in your head before speaking again. Allow the discomfort to build. It is a catalyst for better insights. And also remember, some people need time to process and respond to you. Also, remember the fact that you've got positional power, and sometimes people may well not respond immediately to you. So own your silences. The fourth point I want to talk to is to use stories to control the narrative. So introduce stories that illustrate key lessons or frame challenges in a way that data cannot. Why? Because stories stick. People are more likely to follow your vision if they can feel it, not just if they see the numbers. So turn your data into a story. Have a few go-to stories ready to deploy when you need to shift the conversation or to inspire action. I know some CEOs who have amazing anecdotes that they can just pull out when they need to. So so have an have a little bit of a talk here. Have have stories in your arsenal, so to speak. Point number five: take the room's pulse and then set the tone. Read the energy in the room and then adjust your approach. So whether calming or energizing the group as the CEO, you control the tempo. Your power is immense. The best leaders are thermostats, not thermometers. Think about that. The best leaders are thermostats, not thermometers. So take the room's pulse and then set the tone. Observe body language and adjust your own posture, your own tone, your own energy to steer the mood where it needs to go. And then the last point it might not be viable for every single meeting that you're in, but the meetings that you are in, leave before you're done. Okay? So end your involvement while the energy is high if you are able to. Why? Because it leaves people wanting more and it empowers them to take charge. Your absence can be as powerful as your presence. Remember that. So how? After making your key points, conclude with a statement like, I trust you've got this under control. I'll leave you to work through the details and exit. Okay, so leave the room before you're done if you can. If you're in an executive meeting, you can absolutely say this as well. So after making your key points, conclude with a different statement where you are hanging around. I trust you've got this under control. I will let you now work through the details and come up with a decision and sit there and then go back to the previous point where I talked about silence. Let silence be your friend in this case. So if you're a CEO or an executive looking to elevate your leadership and take your team to new heights, I'd love to help you build the skills that truly lead the room for you. These techniques aren't just theoretical, they are actionable, proven strategies that will transform the way that your team responds to your leadership. Let's develop your executive team into the high performance, cohesive unit that drives results and creates a legacy. Get in touch with me. My details are in the show notes, and let's work together to optimize your leadership presence and your organizational culture. You've already got the title. Now it's time to own the freeing room. Let's talk. I will see you in the next episode on LinkedIn, on Instagram, or wherever else. Until then, bye for now from your host, me Prina Sha. How good was that episode? If you liked it, be sure to share it with a couple of other people. Also in the show notes are details about my newsletter. Keep in touch. I send a newsletter out around once a month. It won't be spammy, it will be very practical. And if we're not connected on LinkedIn yet, we must be connecting me on LinkedIn. And on Instagram, I am prina.sharp. I will see you somewhere else or in the next episode. Until then, goodbye.