LEAD NOW! Executive Presence & Influence Certification
You Can Feel Presence. Now You Can Name It.
Executive presence is the one competency everyone agrees on and no one can pin down. The LEAD NOW! Executive Presence and Influence Certification gives independent coaches and consultants an instrument that turns it into 32 named behaviors across four quadrants, scored by the people who work with your client every day. Built on the LEAD NOW! foundation, it comes from a research-grounded body of work, not a checklist of traits. You leave with lifetime access to both the EP&I Self and 360 Assessments, and the judgment to read what they surface and coach it.
When Practitioners Come to Us
When the Client Asks How They Come Across
You Can Name the Problem but Not the Fix
You watch a leader lose the room and you know presence is the issue. Without a way to break presence into specific behaviors, you are left describing a feeling. The EP&I model gives you 32 named behaviors across four quadrants, so the conversation moves from impression to something the leader can work on.
The Client Wants Proof, Not Impressions
Senior leaders and the sponsors paying for the engagement want evidence the work is landing. Presence coached on feel alone leaves you nothing to point to when someone asks what changed. A validated assessment run at the start and again later gives you a defensible read on where the leader began and where they moved.
Every Presence Coach Sounds the Same
The field sells the same promise in the same words: gravitas, confidence, command the room. When your method is indistinguishable from the coach down the hall, price becomes the only thing a buyer can compare. A proprietary model grounded in published research gives your practice a specific, named thing to stand on.
The Buyer Asks What Your Method Is Built On
You are moving into work with senior executives, and the client, expects a method with something real behind it. An answer built only on your own experience is hard to defend against a vendor waving a data sheet. The EP&I Assessment is built on the LEAD NOW! model and its research-grounded body of work, so you can say where your method comes from and mean it.
Presence Lives in the Room, Not in the Mirror
Executive Presence is defined by how other people experience a leader. Coaching from how the leader sees themselves, or from your read in a single session, misses the gap between intent and impact. The EP&I 360 gathers the perceptions of the people who actually work with the leader, so you coach the reality in the room, not the story the leader tells themselves.
What Certification Delivers
A Score Is Where Most Programs Stop. It Is Where Yours Starts.
You can already get certified on a presence instrument. What you cannot buy off a shelf is the judgment to read what it surfaces and coach it. EP&I Certification gives you both instruments, the training to interpret the Self and 360 together and run the feedback session, and lifetime access so the method is yours. The instrument is where it begins, not where it ends.
A Grounded Read Where the Field Offers a Feeling
You get both instruments, the EP&I Self Assessment and the multi-rater EP&I 360, measuring 32 specific behaviors across a four-quadrant model of executive presence. The model is built on the LEAD NOW! foundation, the same research-grounded body of work behind every Stewart Leadership engagement, so what you put in front of a client rests on more than one coach's read of the room.
The Instrument Sends a Report. You Learn to Read It.
The value is not the score, it is what you do with the gap between how the leader sees themselves and how the room sees them. You leave trained to interpret the Self and 360 results together, facilitate the feedback session, and turn what surfaces into an action plan the leader will follow. This is the difference between administering an assessment and coaching presence, and it is the part no login grants you.
Certification grants lifetime access to both the LEAD NOW! Executive Presence & Influence Self and the 360 Assessments. There is no annual renewal and no recertification fee to keep working, unlike credentials that expire the moment you stop paying. You earn the certification once, and it is yours to keep.
Lifetime Access, Not a License You Renew
Reserve Your Seat
The Certification Fits Around Your Practice
Certification runs as a live virtual session, offered several times a year. You register, attend one three-hour session, and leave certified to deliver the EP&I assessments with your own clients. No travel, no days away from the work you already do.
Format:
Virtual | One half-day.
All sessions held via video conference.
Access granted:
EP&I Self Assessment | EP&I 360 Assessment | Assessment Administration Training | Report Interpretation Guidance | Feedback Facilitation Framework | Action Planning Process | Certified Practitioner Community
Upcoming LEAD NOW! Executive Presence & Influence Certification Events
Certification for the LEAD NOW! Executive Presence & Influence Assessment. One three hour session - virtual.
Registration Closed: February 26, 2026
Registration Closed: May 21, 2026
Registration Open: August 20, 2026
Registration Open: October 22, 2026
Who It Serves
Built for the Practitioner, Not the Enterprise
Independent Coaches and Consultants
You coach senior leaders, or you are moving into that work, and presence is the thing they hire you to fix and the thing you have the least concrete way to address. EP&I Certification gives you a named model, both instruments, and the interpretation training to coach presence as specific behavior rather than general advice. Earn it once and bring it to every client who follows.
Internal L&D and Talent Development Teams
You develop your own senior leaders and high-potential successors, and "work on your presence" is not feedback anyone can act on. Certification gives your team a structured model and the training to run the assessment, read it, and coach from it inside the organization. You build the capability once and keep it in-house, rather than bringing in an outside coach every time presence comes up.
The Right Certification Starts With a Conversation.
If you are weighing whether EP&I is the right addition to your practice, or which Stewart Leadership certification fits where you are, the first step is a conversation. We will listen to the work you do and the clients you serve, and tell you plainly which certification, or combination, fits. No pressure to enroll, just a straight answer.
Common Questions About LEAD NOW! Executive Presence & Influence Certification
What is the LEAD NOW! Executive Presence & Influence Certification?
The LEAD NOW! Executive Presence and Influence Certification is a practitioner credential that trains coaches, consultants, and internal L&D professionals to administer and interpret the EP&I Self and 360 Assessments. Beyond access to the instruments, it includes training to interpret the Self and 360 results together, facilitate the feedback session, and build an action plan with the leader. It is delivered as a single three-hour live virtual session and grants lifetime access to both assessments. The EP&I model measures 32 behaviors across a four-quadrant model of executive presence and is built on the LEAD NOW! foundation.
What is executive presence?
Executive presence is how a leader is experienced by the people around them, across four dimensions: how they show up, how they decide, how they manage their emotions, and how they inspire. Because it is a set of observable behaviors rather than a single trait, it can be measured, which is what this assessment does. For a fuller look at the model behind it, see the Executive Presence Model.
What is an executive presence assessment?
An executive presence assessment is a structured instrument that measures how a leader's presence is perceived, typically by gathering ratings on specific behaviors from the leader and from the people who work with them. A multi-rater, or 360, version compares how the leader sees themselves against how colleagues, direct reports, and managers experience them, which surfaces the gap between intent and impact. The EP&I Assessment measures 32 behaviors across four quadrants and pairs a Self Assessment with a 360 so a coach can work from the difference between the two.
Do I need to be certified to use the EP&I assessments?
Yes. The EP&I Self and 360 Assessments are available only to certified practitioners. Certification exists because the value of the instrument is in the interpretation and the feedback conversation, not in the score alone, and administering it without that training risks handing a leader a report no one can help them act on. Certification gives you both the access and the judgment to use it well.
How is this different from other executive presence programs?
Most executive presence programs coach presence as a performance skill through communication drills and practice, and they develop the coach's own eye rather than giving them an instrument. This certification gives you a named model and two assessments that turn presence into 32 specific behaviors, plus the training to interpret and coach from them. The difference is that you leave able to show a leader specifically how they are perceived and what to work on, rather than describing a general impression.
What does lifetime access include, and are there other costs?
Lifetime access means you certify once and can administer both the Self and the 360 Assessments with your clients for as long as you practice, with no annual renewal or recertification fee. Each assessment you administer carries a per-assessment cost, which certified practitioners purchase from Stewart Leadership at a practitioner discount. There is no recurring charge to hold the certification itself.