Presence Over Perfection: How Speaking Up Can Transform Your Leadership Brand
- Fresh Idea Collective Canada
- Feb 13
- 2 min read
There’s a myth many high-achieving women quietly carry with them: "I'll speak when I'm fully ready. I'll share my ideas when they're completely polished. I'll raise my hand when the timing is perfect."
The problem is, leadership doesn’t reward perfection. It responds to presence.
Presence means showing up when you know you're not flawless. In fact, I'm a big fan of the word "flawsome" which refers to being flawed and awesome at the same time!
So what goes it take to speak up when you don't feel ready?
Stepping Off the Perfection Merry-Go-Round
The Perfection Merry-Go-Round is the exhausting loop of setting impossibly high standards, over-preparing or delaying to avoid mistakes.
Once you're on board, it convinces you that perfection is the only safe way forward. When something falls short, self-criticism kicks in, fear tightens its grip, and you jump back on the ride, spinning in pressure instead of making real progress.
But let's be honest: perfection is just fear in disguise.
The truth is, we all feel nerves when we step up to a microphone or take our spot at the podium. It's human nature to have some level of self-doubt.
But that shouldn't stop us from using our voice.
What Presence Actually Looks Like
I don't equate presence with the loudest person in the room. For me, it's not about dominating the conversation. And it's definitely not about being flawless.
Here's what presence looks like in everyday life:
Sharing your point of view
Asking the question others are thinking.
Respectfully saying “I see it differently”.
Stepping onto a stage and trusting your lived experience.
Presence is a beautiful mixture of energy, embodiment and alignment where you say out loud what you know to be true.
Speaking Up Changes Creates Lasting Impact
When you choose presence over perfection, three things happen:
1️⃣ You Build Confidence Through Action
Confidence rarely comes first. Most often, it is the result of speaking up. And the more we do it, the more confident we become.
2️⃣ You Expand Your Influence
Influence is visibility + value. If you hold all your ideas inside, your influence is limited, no matter how brilliant you are.
3️⃣ You Demonstrate What is Possible for Others
When one woman speaks, it gives other women the permission to speak up as well, whether that's onstage, in a shared community space, at a conference or a team meeting.
Why This Matters Now
There has never been a more important time for women to speak up and be heard . We are living in a time that demands we use our voices to address issues, injustices and inequalities, even if we don't feel fully ready.
Speaking up doesn’t always mean having a microphone in our hand. Sometimes it looks like:
Boundary-setting
Share a new idea
Offering a different point of view
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