The Art of Influencing Senior Executive Leaders

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Upcoming Featured Events at Executiv

Getting on Boards Masterclass by Karen Hsiung & Laura McLennan from Edgepath Talent Solutions

Edgepath Talent Solutions is a Canadian, female-led executive search firm specializing in full-cycle recruitment and executive search. With a relationship-driven and highly tailored approach, they partner with organizations to identify and place top-tier leadership talent — from senior management to CEO and board-level roles.

Through Board Path, they extend this work by helping professionals get on the path to board opportunities — particularly in the non-profit space, connecting talent with open board roles and creating access to governance experience.

In this Executiv Masterclass, they’ll break down:

• How to position yourself for board opportunities

• What boards are actually looking for (and what most people get wrong)

• How to build the right network and visibility to get considered for board opportunities

• The practical steps to land your first board seat

👉 Not a member but want access?
Reply to this email and we’ll share how you can join this class (and the Executiv Network).`

Influencing is not just for influencers.  It’s a critical skill for founders, business builders, and corporate leaders.

The past two years have been an intense influencing bootcamp to say the least.

Growing Executiv Network means I am constantly in meetings trying to secure sponsors, land enterprise clients, and get people to bet on something that’s still new and being built. I spend 90% of my week in conversations with executive leaders.

Influencing executives isn’t a new skill for me. It is something I intentionally worked on and has been instrumental in building my corporate career, climbing the ladder, and leading successful brands and global businesses. It is what was needed to get buy-in from the c-suite to bring in new advertising agencies, trusted recruitment partners, launch hundreds of new products, and many times fight for a bigger budget for my marketing team. The skill is the same. The stakes now look a little different.

The biggest unlock for me, both as a startup Founder & CEO, and when I stepped into my biggest corporate leadership role, was understanding that most senior executive leaders have a radically different perspective on the business than those focused on their function or “swim lane”.

They have to operate with an enterprise mindset which means they are context-switching fifteen times a day.

For example, in my experience as a marketing leader, a typical marketing executive can be in a meeting about a new campaign, a meeting with HR, and then another one about budget cuts and switching context countless times before meeting with you. By the time you’re sitting in front of them, they have had to negotiate with twenty five different people all in one day. The mental load is heavy.

If you’re looking to influence this type of leader, you need to pull them into your world fast and fill in the gaps quickly. They are not operating from your world view.

Here’s what I have learned about doing that well:

Understand their world and the context they’re operating in.

This is the holy grail of influencing.

Senior executives are not living inside your project and will not be nearly as excited as you are about it. They are leading it from a birds-eye view. They are usually dealing with monthly and quarterly targets, complex organizational politics, and a calendar that just doesn’t stop (meetings on top of meetings). When you walk in without understanding that context, you’re speaking a language they have zero bandwidth to translate.

So, do your homework. What cycle are they in? Is it quarter end? What just happened in the business? Is a new global leader coming to town? What are they being held accountable for?

When you understand their world, you stop being just another employee and start being someone who understands them. That one shift alone changes how they perceive you.

Know what they actually care about.

This seems really obvious, but it is not. Pay attention to what they talk about. If your boss reports into the SVP+ or c-suite execs, pay attention to what they say in the company town hall. It may look like they cover every part of the business, but that is what it is like inside their brain. What they talk about as priorities in front of the company is their priorities. So, you need to connect whatever you’re recommending or asking of them, back to their priorities.

This is where corporate influence lives. It is less about how polished your deck is. Yes, I know you want it to look polished. Influencing senior execs comes from understanding what keeps them up at night and what big hairy problem they are trying to solve.

Read the room. Understand the unspoken rules.

Every executive team has their own operating rhythm and way of doing things. You may or may not like it, but it is your problem to understand. This is about who actually holds power and who doesn’t. Who will always look for consensus and won’t lean in and also what is off limits. Try to understand what the real decision-making process looks like behind closed doors. Who are the real influencers that are not-so-obvious to you based on their title?

The other element is the type of executive leader you’re dealing with. Some senior execs want data to back up every single recommendation. Some want the one-line answer and will ask questions if they need more context. Some need to feel like the idea was theirs and will end up saying it was anyway. Your job is to figure out which one you’re dealing with and adjust accordingly.

Influence is not built by pitching a magical strategy no one has ever seen before (because they have). It’s built in every interaction before it. When you understand someone’s world, speak to what they actually care about, and respect the unspoken rules of their environment, you don’t have to fight to be heard.

They start to lean in. 😉 

Executiv New Executive Leaders Coaching Program is Now Enrolling

Our New Executive Leaders Coaching Program is an 8-week immersive leadership coaching experience for women leaders, Directors and VPs combining:

• 30-minute weekly LIVE leadership lesson
• 60-minute weekly personalized executive coaching
• Peer-advisory, practical problem solving, and discussions

Leadership Capabilities Developed:
✓ Shift from doer to strategic leader
✓ Build high-performing teams with clear accountability
✓ Navigate politics and stakeholder dynamics
✓ Communicate with executive presence
✓ Strengthen visibility and leadership brand

Confidence & Mindset Growth:
✓ Increased confidence to lead at the executive level
✓ Clarity on vision and values
✓ Tools to manage stress and avoid burnout

Across 8 weeks, you will move from uncertainty to action, equipped with a clear 90-day roadmap, elevated influence, and real change in your confidence level to lead effectively and deliver results.

Led by Sara Curwen, Executiv Core Coach, former COO, and Harvard MBA with deep expertise in Supply Chain and Operations across Food & Beverage and CPG. She is known for building high-performing teams, leading transformations, and translating strategy into measurable results.

Sara brings a bias for action and a passion for developing confident, accountable leaders.

Program Starts: April 28th 2026

To learn more and explore if our coaching program is right for you, book a call with us here.

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We are a community that is highly vetted, deeply connected, and committed to each other’s success.

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“Every time we got a knock back and understood why people wouldn’t invest, we changed and revised our pitch. Failure was never an option..”

Melanie Perkins