5M Presence
Look Well, Speak Well, Lead Well. Executive presence for professionals, entrepreneurs and leadership teams, so the people in front of you see and hear the capability you already have.
Join a Saturday workshop in Nairobi every other month, bring the day to your own leadership team, or work with I.S. Matthew one to one over six months.
The situation
You are often the person at the board table who understands the subject better than anyone else present, yet you speak last and briefly.
Your written briefs are excellent, but you lose high-stakes deals, arguments and debates in the live discussion. When you meet clients, partners or board members face to face, you do not command the same authority you establish on paper.
In 5M Unbreakable, I teach that senior professionals stay silent in critical moments because they lack a structured way to communicate and a safe setting in which to practise it. Confidence follows once both are in place, and both can be learned in a single day:
- The method. How to structure and deliver a position with executive authority.
- The reception. How people read you visually before they take in your words.
Three formats
The three spaces
Every leader works across three spaces.
| The Front Door | The polished account and face you show to the world. |
|---|---|
| The Inner Room | Where your real competence, technical knowledge and capability live. |
| The Back Room | Where any gap between the Front Door and the Inner Room is brought to light, faced and resolved. |
When a leader's public presence matches their real capability, people trust what they see and hear. When the two move apart, people notice and conclude the leader is unsure of their material. 5M Presence works as that Back Room, closing the gap between your capability and your public impact.
Three pillars, nine frameworks
Every format works through three pillars in order, because how a leader is seen comes before how they are heard, and both decide whether they are followed.
| Pillar | Framework | What it covers | Scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| Look Well | 1. The Three Wardrobes | Dressing well for authority, work and field settings. | On the day |
| Look Well | 2. The Daily Base | Your energy baseline: sleep, movement and food. | Over time |
| Look Well | 3. The Ninety Seconds | How you enter, greet people and take your seat. | On the day |
| Speak Well | 4. The Instrument | Your voice: breath support, pace and pitch. | On the day |
| Speak Well | 5. The Spine | Structuring a live position: a clear claim, clean evidence and the cost of inaction. | On the day |
| Speak Well | 6. The Hold | Using silence and listening well in conversation. | On the day |
| Lead Well | 7. The Reading Line | Building depth: technical expertise, industry context and current trends. | Over time |
| Lead Well | 8. The Vault | Capturing, condensing and using what you learn. | Over time |
| Lead Well | 9. The Signature | Defending a position with proof and holding your ground. | On the day |
The Nine Grid
Each participant is scored from one to five on all nine frameworks, giving each pillar a maximum of fifteen. Workshop participants complete the audit before the day, are scored by peers during the day, and score themselves again thirty days later. Mentoring clients take it at the start, at three months and at six months.
| 12 to 15 | The capability is firm. |
|---|---|
| 8 to 11 | The baseline is slipping. |
| 7 or below | Executive impact is seriously exposed. |
Six of the nine can be judged by an observer on the day. The other three depend on daily practice, so participants score those themselves over the weeks that follow.
Three patterns the grid reveals
- The Polished. Looks immaculate and speaks well, with too little substance behind the delivery. Clients and colleagues usually discover this late, and they do not forget it.
- The Overlooked. Worth listening to and strong in substance, but the visual presentation keeps the audience from giving their attention.
- The Unheard. A commanding appearance and strong arguments, but a delivery that fails to convince, so the point or the deal goes to whoever puts it better.
The grid works for individuals and for leadership teams who work closely together, giving them a shared language for feedback long after the workshop.
How a Presence Day runs
| Morning | Look Well, then Speak Well. You build your own Three Wardrobes checklist and rehearse a ninety-second entry. |
|---|---|
| Early afternoon | Lead Well. You write a one-page Spine for a real position you must hold in the coming month, and set up a reading and capture routine. |
| Late afternoon | Live peer scoring on the six frameworks judged on the day, and your Nine Grid completed. |
| The close | Speed networking for professionals and entrepreneurs: short timed rounds in which you use your new entry and your Spine with people you have not met. |
What you leave with
- Your completed, peer-verified Nine Grid, and three frameworks to practise every day.
- Practical tools you start using on Monday: your wardrobe checklist, your ninety-second entry, and a one-page Spine for a real position.
- Honest feedback from peers who watched you work live.
- New professional contacts from the networking session.
- A thirty-day follow-up audit to see what has changed.
Dates and booking
| Format | When and where | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 5M Presence Day | One Saturday every other month, 8:30 to 17:00, Radisson Blu or a similar hotel in Nairobi | KSh 18,000 per person, including lunch, refreshments and materials |
| 5M Presence for Teams | A date that suits your team, at your venue or ours | Agreed with each organisation |
| 5M Presence Mentoring | Six months, online or in person | Agreed at a free consultation |
The workshops are in person only, because the method depends on people seeing each other as they are seen at work.
Next Presence Days
New dates are announced here. Tell us you are interested and we will let you know the next date.