Meanwhile, their team is watching something else entirely.

The meetings you decline. The emails you leave unread. The decisions you push to next week.

Your silence is louder than any town hall you’ll ever give.

I learned this the week I bought my company in 2008.

The market had just crashed (that day!). My team was terrified. And I thought the answer was communication, more updates, more reassurance, more visibility.

So I scheduled an all-hands. Prepared talking points.

Then I walked past three people in the hallway without stopping.

Skipped a department meeting because “bigger priorities.”

Took two days to respond to a manager’s urgent email.

My town hall went great. No one cared.

Because they’d already decided I wasn’t present.

Here’s what kills executive presence during transitions:

• The question you answer while looking at your phone.

• The planning session you send your deputy to.

• The decision you promise to make “soon”—again.

Your team isn’t listening to what you say in meetings.

They’re watching what you do when you think no one’s paying attention.

The small moments, those are where presence lives or dies.

You can’t speech your way into credibility. You earn it in the margins.

What silent signals are you sending?