As the research and science continues to indicate that quality of attention is the largest defining characteristic of engagement, we need to consider what presence means and how it relates to impact at work.
I would argue that people with the greatest impacts in their work are the most present. They're keeping up with micro and macro shifts, trends and changes in their teams, organizations, industries and markets. Their bias for action is based on the sense of immediacy inspired by being present. Presence keeps events in the past and future in perspective. As the core of presence is curiosity, people with presence are known for the natural by-products of curiosity: creativity, learning, caring and intuitive pattern sensing.
People who live in the present work with greater focus, less distracted and reactive and more clear and calm. They are enjoyable to work with and their presence is a contagious energy. Presence keeps them very realistic, which makes them highly credible and trustworthy. They are always aware of how little they know in the present compared to what is knowable and their intellectual humility makes their learning continuous, broad and deep.
No wonder they show up with the most impact compared to the non-present others.