The 2025 Soirée Women’s Leadership Symposium on May 8 not only offered workshops and networking, but it served as a reminder for women to choose purpose, create confidence and take more risks in the workplace. Keynote speakers Michelle Anne Johnson and Candace Doby used their personal experiences and insights to encourage attendees to take ownership of their presence and brilliance.
Michelle Anne Johnson’s first lessons on the art of presence and influence took place on Hollywood sets, where she acted for more than 20 years, appearing on shows like “Friends,” “Bones” and “Modern Family.”
Despite all these fun opportunities, Johnson said she felt lost and unfulfilled, and soon performing for the cameras turned into performing in real life. She decided to take a sabbatical and ask herself some difficult questions about what she wanted her future to look like.
“It’s a little ironic that I had to walk away from acting and stop performing to step into my true presence so that I can teach it,” Johnson said.
Today Johnson travels the country teaching women the formula she developed when she found her own presence and personal power: Presence = authenticity + confidence + purpose.
“No matter who you are or what work you do, you must influence other people to get things done and accomplish your goals,” Johnson said. “And I can tell you that influence is so much easier when you have the kind of presence that makes people want to know you, listen to you and be around you. It amplifies and accelerates your influence.”
Authenticity, Johnson said, is “the authority that comes from the truth of your experience.” It’s about “knowing yourself and showing yourself.”
Johnson said most people have the “knowing” part down, but fear of rejection and other emotional walls keep them from being truly authentic in front of others. Moving forward is about identifying what those walls are and how to tear them down.
“We have to find the courage to take down some of those bricks and let our authentic selves shine through,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, confidence doesn’t come from your competence, but from your belief in that competence.
She said the key to building confidence is to first recognize what is tearing it down, whether that’s a past failure, criticism from someone you respect or comparison to others. She advised attendees to choose to base their confidence on their success stories instead, even suggesting writing down a list of personal and professional feats as a visual reminder.
“We can choose what we believe about ourselves, and that’s what confidence is all about.”
Johnson said the final variable in the presence equation, purpose, focuses on how you’re contributing something of value that makes you “psychologically and emotionally engaged in what you’re doing.”
While most refer to purpose as something that is “found,” Johnson insists purpose can be chosen.
“We can create purpose at any time for any situation,” she said. “And when you do that, you elevate how you show up and engage in that situation.”
Johnson ended by emphasizing what one person’s presence can do for their whole organization.
“The thing with authenticity, confidence and purpose is that they’re the gifts that keep on giving,” she said. “Not only do they benefit you, but they have a ripple effect. When you know yourself and show yourself without the wall, when you believe in yourself because you know what you’ve come through and overcome, when you are invested and know that you’re contributing something of value, you change the experience of the people around you and they respond to you differently.”
Drawing from her winning marketing career at Chipotle and the insights gained as a leadership development strategist, Candace Doby inspired attendees to take more risks at work to better own their brilliance, which she defined as “a universal quality that finds unique expression at the intersection of your passions, talents and interests.”
“When I survey professionals and ask them what they really want courage for, they most often tell me they want to use courage to be seen and to be heard,” Doby said. “They want to be acknowledged for their unique contribution and presence.”
Doby introduced the idea that courage is two-faced. It is the organization’s responsibility to ensure the workplace has policies that remove toxicity, close the gender pay gap and create an environment where everyone can belong. But the other face of courage, Doby said, is the personal side.
“This side shows us that it is every single person’s individual responsibility to step into the fullness of their potential and power regardless of external circumstances.”
Employees who are not engaged cost their company the equivalent of 18% of their annual salary, Doby explained.
When trying to summon up courage, Doby shared three questions to ask, the first being, “What is the risk?”
Doby said instead of doing a risk to benefit comparison, do a risk to risk comparison.
“Don’t ask yourself, ‘What is the benefit if I do this?’” Doby said. “Ask yourself, ‘What is the risk if I don’t?’ The risk is lack of self-discovery, stunted growth, postponement of progress and regret.”
The second question to ask is, “What is the reason for taking the risk?”
“We do hard, risky, challenging things for one of two reasons,” Doby said. “We are either internally motivated or externally motivated. When you make decisions based on your values, you do things for autonomy, mastery and purpose.”
That’s why it’s so crucial to pinpoint your values and “worthy purpose,” Doby said, so there’s a foundation to stand on when you’re taking risks.
The final question to ask is, “What are my resources?”
“Courage doesn’t guarantee success,” Doby said. “I know we all want it to. But the only thing that courage can guarantee is that you will have access to more possibilities than you would have without acting courageously.”
Doby said that’s why it’s important to have an internal surplus of confidence in your competence so that a rejection after a brave action doesn’t keep you from taking more risks in the future.
“Processes are just like anything else in that it takes practice,” she said. “Keep asking yourselves these three questions and you will see small changes in the way you show up for work. And then you’ll be able to build upon them and take bigger risks with bigger consequences and payouts. Courage is a choice to face a risk for a worthy purpose.”
Click here to sign up for the monthly e-newsletter:
