Small cohort · Mumbai · One day or two half-days · Also in-company
Executive Presence for Leaders: authority without volume.
A small-cohort programme for senior managers and leaders who speak for the organisation: to the board, to clients, to the press and to their own people. Voice, bearing, image and protocol, coached individually and in private, on the Sabira Merchant curriculum.
Who it is for
People whose presence sets the tone of the room
By the time you are senior, nobody corrects you. Colleagues adjust to your habits, and the habits harden. This programme is the correction, given privately, by people whose job it is to notice.
- Business heads, directors and CXOs
- Senior managers stepping up to lead a function or a region
- Partners and practice heads in professional services
- Founders who face investors, boards and the press
- Leaders who receive visiting principals, dignitaries and delegations
- Spokespeople, panellists and conference speakers
By the end of the programme you will be able to
- Hold a boardroom or a stage without raising your voice or your pace
- Use breath, pitch and pause so that the far end of the table hears every word
- Walk in, sit, stand and gesture in a way that reads as settled rather than performed
- Receive and host senior guests with the correct precedence, seating and forms of address
- Open a meeting, a presentation or a speech with a first thirty seconds that lands
- Take a hostile question, an interruption or bad news without losing the room
What the programme covers
Seven modules, coached in a small cohort, with individual practice and private feedback.
01
Authority without volume
The signals senior people read: stillness, pace, pause, where you look and when you choose to speak. Why the loudest person in the room is rarely the one in charge, and what to do instead.
02
Voice and diction
Breath, pitch, pace and clarity. The diction work Sabira Merchant is known for, applied to the boardroom and the microphone. Being heard at the far end of the table without pushing.
03
Bearing and image
Entering a room, sitting, standing, hands, the walk to the podium. Executive dressing for senior roles: the difference between formal and finished, and what to wear when you are the host.
04
Protocol and precedence
Who is introduced to whom, who sits where, orders of precedence, forms of address, business cards, gifts and the etiquette of a delegation. The rules senior counterparts expect you to know.
05
Hosting senior guests
Receiving a visiting chairman, a minister or an overseas principal. The welcome, the walk, the seating, the meal, the farewell, and the follow-up that keeps the relationship.
06
Boardroom and stage
Chairing, presenting to a board, the panel, the podium, the press line and the camera. Notes, eye contact, the pause before you answer, and how to close.
07
Handling pressure
The hostile question, the interruption, the wrong slide, the number you did not expect. Composure as a technique that can be practised, not a temperament you either have or lack.
How the programme runs
One full day, or two half-days on consecutive mornings, in a deliberately small cohort. Everything is practised on your own material: your introduction, your board slide, your welcome speech.
- Pre-programme noteA short questionnaire on the rooms you walk into and the situations you want to handle better
- DemonstrationsFaculty show each behaviour, and its senior-level failures, in the room
- Recorded practiceYou speak, chair and host on camera, then review it with faculty
- Individual coachingVoice, bearing and image, corrected one to one
- AssessmentA private practical against the rubric, then the certificate
Next small cohorts in Mumbai
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30Oct2026Register
Executive Presence for Leaders
For the fee, talk to our L&D consultants. Every seat includes materials, the certificate, lunch and tea, and group bookings of three or more are priced together. Register by email at register@princetonacademy.co.in or on WhatsApp. If you would rather not join an open cohort, the programme runs privately for a leadership team.
Register online
Choose the programme and the batch. An L&D consultant sends the fee, the venue and a payment link, and your seat is confirmed on payment.
Certificate and inclusions
- Certificate of completion on the Sabira Merchant curriculum, issued through Princeton Academy
- Individual assessment against the executive presence rubric, with private feedback
- Voice and diction practice guide
- Protocol and precedence reference
- Hosting checklist for senior guests and delegations
- Lunch, tea and coffee for classroom participants
For leadership teams
A private cohort for your senior team
Run in-company for a leadership team, a group of newly promoted senior managers, or a board preparing for a public moment. Delivered at your office, an offsite or a venue, in Mumbai or any Indian city. Feedback stays individual and private. HR receives attendance and a completion summary, not the coaching notes.
Request a proposalQuestions
Who conducts the sessions?
Every programme is designed and overseen by Sabira Merchant. Sessions are delivered by faculty she has trained and certified on her curriculum. Depending on the format, batch and schedule, Ms Merchant may conduct part of a session personally. The content, the standards and the assessment are hers in every case.
How is this different from Corporate Grooming & Etiquette?
Corporate Grooming & Etiquette is the full one-day picture for professionals at any level, in a mixed cohort. This programme assumes you already know the basics and works on what senior roles demand: the boardroom, the stage, hosting, protocol and pressure, in a smaller cohort with more time on each person. If you are unsure which, the flagship is the safer first step.
Is the cohort confidential?
Yes. Cohorts are kept small and are made up of senior people, several of whom will not want it known that they are working on their presence. What is said and practised in the room stays in the room. Practice recordings are reviewed with you and are not published or shared. If you prefer, a company can book a private cohort for its own leaders.
Is this about being louder or more assertive?
No. The opposite, usually. Most senior people who feel they lack presence are compensating with volume, speed or length. The programme works on stillness, pace, clarity and protocol, so that authority comes from how you hold the room rather than how hard you push it.
Can I attend on my own, or must my company send me?
Either. Open cohorts in Mumbai take individual bookings. Some participants are sponsored by their organisation, others book privately, and nobody in the room needs to know which.
How do I register?
Choose a date above and message an L&D consultant on WhatsApp, or email register@princetonacademy.co.in with the date you want. You will receive the fee, the venue and a payment link. Seats are confirmed on payment.
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Authority is a skill. It can be practised.
Ask for the next small cohort in Mumbai, or book a private one for your leadership team.