The Open Line

Honest conversations. Real presence. Leadership people want to follow.

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Bringing presence to power

Wow. January. Feels like a whole year happened within its 31 days. Would it be fair to say we're all carrying more than what we're saying out loud?

And yet, I keep noticing how some of that weight lifts — briefly, quietly — in surprisingly small ways. A warm smile to a cashier. Someone listening without checking their phone. A real conversation over a cup of coffee.

Those moments remind me of something I believe deeply: influence doesn’t always announce itself. Often, it shows up through presence — through how we pay attention, how we steady ourselves, how we show up with others.

I see this most clearly at work in rooms where power is present but unevenly distributed.

One of my favorite examples comes from years ago, when I was working as a contract creative director for a locally headquartered bank. My role was to develop advertising and marketing campaigns. My client, the VP of Marketing, carried those campaigns into conversations with the CEO.

We’d prepare together. We’d talk through the thinking behind our decisions. We’d connect the ideas to corporate goals and highlight the elements she knew would resonate with how the CEO saw the world.

Then she’d walk into his office — often passing city and state leaders on their way out — aware that he held the authority not just for this campaign, but for much bigger decisions.

She carried real responsibility — for the campaign, for the growth of the bank — with very little control.

What always struck me though wasn’t her need to convince him —
it was how grounded she became the clearer she felt about what truly mattered.

And he responded to her clear and confident conversations with respect and trust. He knew she knew what mattered and gave her a ton of agency for how she went about her work. He welcomed her pushback when he suggested marketing tactics that didn’t align with the bigger picture.

This kind of power dynamic shows up across roles and organizations — especially in support functions like IT, marketing, communications, and client relations. It’s less about title, and more about responsibility without control.

Here’s the part that rarely gets named: failure in these moments doesn’t look like failure.

It looks like being politely ignored.
Like being looped in after decisions harden.
Like being asked to clean up things you could’ve helped prevent.

And over time, that does something to you.

You start over-preparing, over-explaining, second-guessing when to speak... or when to stay quiet.

Not because you don’t know your stuff, but because the room holds more power than you do.

This is where I see smart, thoughtful professionals get stuck.

They’re not trying to persuade.
They’re trying to protect the work, the people, the organization.

They don’t need more slides.
They don’t need better talking points.

They need a place to slow down before the meeting.
To clarify what they see that others might miss.
To think through how and when to enter the conversation — without performing or pushing.

That’s the kind of work I find myself doing more and more these days.

Helping people manage high-stakes conversations that are focused on judgment, timing, and influence... especially when authority is uneven.

If you’re heading into a moment like that — a decision forming upstream, a conversation where it matters how you show up — and you’d value a thinking partner to sort through it beforehand, you’re welcome to reach out.

No pressure, no program, just a contained space to think it through before it becomes public.

Truly,
Jackie

Quiet Signals

What to notice this week:

• When a decision is being shaped without input from the people closest to the work
• When you’re asked to “weigh in” after momentum has already formed
• When you feel the urge to over-prepare because the stakes feel personal
• When being right isn’t enough — and timing matters more than content

Signal Boosts

If you want to explore this idea a bit more, here are a few ways to go deeper — all optional, all pressure-free:

Hi there! I'm Jackie. I help thoughtful people influence outcomes without having to become someone they’re not. ​LinkedIn Website​