Most people think executive presence starts when you walk into a room, speak on stage, or answer a question in a meeting. But after talking with Grace Aldridge Foster I learned that is not actually where many leadership impressions begin.

They begin in writing.

They begin in the email you fire off between meetings. In the LinkedIn comment you leave on someone’s post. In the proposal you send to a client. In the follow-up note after a networking conversation. In the performance review, the Slack message, the slide deck, the memo, the text, and the one-line response that someone reads without hearing your tone or seeing your face.

That was one of the most powerful reminders from my recent Lead with Spark conversation with Grace Aldridge Foster, co-founder of Bold Type. Grace has spent years helping professionals write more clearly and more strategically, and one of the biggest truths she shared is this: your writing speaks for you when you are not in the room.

For women leaders, that matters. A lot.

Because many women are already navigating assumptions about confidence, competence, tone, warmth, authority, and visibility. If your writing is unclear, flat, overly formal, or disconnected from the way you actually lead, people fill in the blanks themselves. And they do not always fill them in kindly.

So if you want stronger executive presence, better leadership communication, and a personal brand that feels aligned, start by looking at your writing.

Here are five communication shifts from this conversation that can help.

1. Stop treating writing like admin work

One reason leaders overlook writing is because it can feel routine. It is easy to think of email, comments, proposals, and updates as the background noise of work. But those are often the first places people experience your leadership.

Before someone meets you in person, they may already know your voice through your writing. They may already have an impression of whether you are clear, thoughtful, warm, rushed, strategic, reactive, empowering, or hard to read. That means writing is not just a task. It is part of your leadership presence.

If you are a business owner, speaker, coach, manager, or executive, your writing is also part of your brand. The question is not whether your writing communicates something. It absolutely does. The question is whether it communicates what you want it to.

2. Use journaling to reconnect with your own ideas

One of the most refreshing parts of the episode was the conversation around journaling. Grace talked about why journaling is having a resurgence right now, especially in a world full of AI tools, automation, and constant digital noise. People are hungry for a way to reconnect with their own thoughts.

That does not mean journaling has to look like a leather notebook, six colored pens, and a dramatic sunrise. Grace reframed it in a way that makes it feel much more doable: journaling is simply writing from yourself to yourself.

That can be handwritten. It can be voice to text. It can be a quick note while your coffee brews. The point is not performance. The point is clarity.

And clarity matters for leaders. When you are constantly solving problems, carrying decisions, and moving fast, journaling helps you slow down long enough to hear yourself think. It gives you a place to notice patterns, separate from negative self-talk, and reconnect with what you actually believe, want, or need to say.

In other words, journaling does not only make you a better writer. It can make you a more grounded leader.

3. Run every message through ART

Grace shared a framework that is simple enough to write on a sticky note and strong enough to change the way you communicate immediately: ART.

ART stands for Audience, Result, Tone.

Before you write, ask: Who is this for? What result do I want? What tone will help move that person toward that result?

That one pause can save you from so many communication mistakes. It can help you stop writing from your own stress level and start writing for the other person’s experience. It can help you be more intentional instead of more reactive. It can also help you get clearer, faster, because you are not wandering around the keyboard hoping your message figures itself out.

This works for everything from emails to proposals to feedback conversations to keynote decks. It even works at home. If your result is simply, I need someone to listen for a minute, that changes the way you open the conversation.

Sometimes the most powerful communication upgrade is not a fancier sentence. It is stronger intention.

4. Create a personal voice statement

Another gem from this episode was Grace’s idea of a personal voice statement. If you have ever wondered how to make your writing sound more like you, this is a practical place to start.

The framework is beautifully simple. I am always blank and blank. I am never blank and blank. My audience should always find me blank and blank.

That gives you a filter for your communication. It helps you name the qualities that matter to you and decide how those qualities should show up on the page. Maybe you are always direct and encouraging. Maybe you are never condescending or vague. Maybe your audience should always experience you as clear and empowering.

This matters because many professionals accidentally code-switch into corporate robot mode when they write. They sound like a real human in conversation and a compliance manual in email. That disconnect weakens trust. A personal voice statement helps close the gap so your writing sounds more aligned with your actual leadership.

5. Use a style guide to reduce friction and build culture

One of the most practical takeaways for leaders and teams is the power of a style guide. If you are constantly rewriting your team’s messages, proposals, or decks, you do not only have a writing problem. You may have a standards problem.

A style guide creates shared expectations. It helps people know what good looks like. It gives teams language for how the organization communicates and what it values. That makes editing less personal, saves leaders time, and strengthens consistency across the board.

For newer leaders, this can also become a team-building conversation. How do we want clients, peers, and partners to experience us? What tone reflects our values? What words do we use? What do we avoid? Those questions shape more than communication. They shape culture.

A challenge for this week

If you want one place to start, take Grace’s advice and put ART on a sticky note where you can see it. For one week, run everything you write through that lens: Audience. Result. Tone.

You will likely notice patterns fast. You may see where you are overexplaining, under-directing, softening too much, or writing without a clear result in mind. That awareness alone can sharpen your communication more than another generic tip ever will.

Final thought

Executive presence is not built only in the spotlight. It is built in the everyday moments where your words represent you before your voice ever does.

So if you want your communication to feel more strategic, more authentic, and more aligned with the leader you are becoming, do not underestimate the writing. It may be one of the strongest brand tools you already have.

If this topic hits home, listen to the full Lead with Spark episode with Grace Aldridge Foster, then share it with a woman leader who would love a smarter, stronger way to communicate.