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Executive presence coaching

Executive Presence & Public Speaking

An exclusive 1:1 coaching engagement, reserved for CXOs, founders, and senior leaders.

Apply for ConsiderationNominate a leader
6Modules
72Hours 1:1 Coaching
6Months
1:1Private Engagement

Why 1:1

Leadership is learned in a room of one.

Group programmes teach frameworks. 1:1 coaching changes behaviour. When your coach knows your industry, your pressures, and your specific communication blindspots, every hour compounds.

72hours

of live coaching. Zero group sessions.

100%tailored

of every module adapted to your context.

1coach

who has been in the rooms you're trying to enter.

A senior coach and leader in conversation during a private 1:1 session
Leadership is learned in a room of one.

The Curriculum

Six modules. Six months. One complete transformation.

The programme is structured as six month-long modules. Each module runs 12 hours of live 1:1 sessions , deep enough to change habits, not just inform them.

Great founders don't just communicate, they electrify. This module builds your ability to deliver speeches, talks, and addresses that don't just inform but ignite action.

  1. What exactly builds executive presence, and which of the three pillars is quietly draining your authority?

    FrameworkHewlett Presence
    SourceSylvia Ann Hewlett · Executive Presence

    Foundational diagnostic for executive gravitas, communication, and appearance. An introductory assessment.

  2. What does your voice signal before your words do, and how do you rebuild it for authority or when under pressure?

    FrameworkRADA Vocal Method
    SourceRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art · Voice & Presence training canon

    Voice as instrument: pitch, pace, pause, breath control, and authority under pressure.

  3. How does the physical space you claim alter how others assess your power before you have spoken a word?

    FrameworkDominant Minority Principle
    SourceSerge Moscovici · Social Influence and Social Change

    Spatial ownership and the strategic use of stillness as a dominance signal.

  4. What is your face communicating when you think it is neutral, and how do you read a room in real time?

    FrameworkEkman's Framework & Micro-Expression Mastery
    SourcePaul Ekman · Emotions Revealed

    Reading and controlling facial signals; Ekman's framework applied to boardroom contexts.

  5. What is the structural difference between a speech that is heard and one that moves people to act?

    FrameworkCicero's Five Canons
    SourceCicero · De Oratore

    Speech architecture: how to structure and deliver a keynote that moves audiences to action.

  6. What are voice codes and how to use them the way pop stars, singers, and actors do?

    FrameworkVoice Analysis Technology
    SourceMorton Cooper · Change Your Voice, Change Your Life

    Train the voice to create a specific intended effect on the listener.

Founders lose thousands of hours in meetings that circle, stall or sabotage. This module transforms how you design, lead, and close every meeting, from investor pitches to team standups.

  1. How do the structural choices of a meeting, who is invited, where they sit, what is discussed first, pre-load the outcome before anyone speaks?

    FrameworkMeeting Design
    SourcePriya Parker · The Art of Gathering

    Intentional meeting architecture: who, where, when, and the agenda as power instrument.

  2. How do you extract information, neutralise resistance, and steer a conversation without the other person realising you are doing it?

    FrameworkTactical Empathy
    SourceChris Voss · Never Split the Difference

    Mirroring, labelling, calibrated questions: FBI method for high-stakes conversation.

  3. Why does feedback fail in high-status environments, and what replaces it as a tool for behavioural change?

    FrameworkGoldsmith Feedforward
    SourceMarshall Goldsmith · What Got You Here Won't Get You There

    Future-focused behavioural suggestion replacing retrospective feedback.

  4. What is the conversation you have been avoiding, and what has it already cost your organisation?

    FrameworkFierce Conversations
    SourceSusan Scott · Fierce Conversations

    Interrogating reality and initiating avoided conversations.

  5. Who actually holds power in the room, and how do you read deference patterns and resistance signals before the meeting has ended?

    FrameworkPower Dynamics Reading
    SourceJeffrey Pfeffer · Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't

    Decoding invisible hierarchy and stakeholder alignment in real time.

  6. How does your entry into the room, your posture, and eye contact impact a meeting?

    FrameworkHewlett Presence · 5 C's of Body Language
    SourceCarol Kinsey Goman · The Silent Language of Leaders

    The 5 C's of body language in meetings, and how non-verbal cues impact outcomes.

The Founders who win markets are the ones who own the story of their market. This module builds your ability to craft founding stories, brand narratives, and strategic messaging that sticks.

  1. Why does positioning yourself as the hero of your own story consistently fail, and what do the most effective communicators do instead?

    FrameworkStoryBrand Framework (SB7)
    SourceDonald Miller · Building a StoryBrand

    Seven-part narrative structure: character, problem, guide, plan, call, failure, success.

  2. How do you turn the hardest chapter of your career into the most persuasive argument for why you are the right person for what comes next?

    FrameworkHero's Journey
    SourceJoseph Campbell · The Hero with a Thousand Faces

    Using Campbell's monomyth to structure personal narratives and origin stories.

  3. What is the single irreducible idea that connects everything you say, and does it survive a hostile question?

    FrameworkRed Thread
    SourceTamsen Webster · Find Your Red Thread

    Building narrative coherence across all communication platforms.

  4. What is the difference between a slide that displays data and a slide that makes a decision inevitable?

    FrameworkData Storytelling
    SourceNancy Duarte · Resonate · Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic · Storytelling with Data

    Making numbers emotionally compelling; annotating evidence as argument.

  5. What are the five structural failures of most executive pitches, and why does opening with the solution almost always lose the room?

    FrameworkPitch Architecture
    SourceOren Klaff · Pitch Anything

    The structural distinction between persuasive and conviction-producing pitches.

  6. How to structure stories for investors and high-stakeholders, and use vulnerability as a tool to build authority?

    FrameworkHigh-Stakes Pitching & Controlled Vulnerability
    SourceBrené Brown · Dare to Lead

    Strategic emotional disclosure that builds trust without sacrificing authority; using it to pitch impactfully.

This module helps you work on your charisma and build a founder-led visibility strategy across platforms. Your personal brand is your reputation. Founders with strong, distinct personal brands build trust, attract better talent, and build better businesses.

  1. What are the benefits and emotional challenges of building a personal brand in public for founders and entrepreneurs, and the pitfalls to avoid?

    FrameworkMedia Presence
    SourceGary Vaynerchuk · Crushing It! · Tom Peters · The Brand Called You

    Framework for press, panels, and platforms, even before you need it.

  2. What does your LinkedIn profile communicate to someone who has never met you, and does it position you as a category of one?

    FrameworkLinkedIn Branding & Positioning
    SourceRichard Bliss · Digital-First Leadership

    Profile architecture that positions you as the undeniable go-to choice in your industry, a deep dive audit.

  3. What would a podcast that establishes your authority and point of view sound like, and how do you record a pilot worth publishing?

    FrameworkPodcast Pilot
    SourceJay Acunzo · Break the Wheel

    Recording a pilot that establishes your voice, format, and point of view.

  4. What argument is your wardrobe currently making, and is it the argument you intend?

    FrameworkWardrobe Strategy
    SourceBernhard Roetzel · Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion

    Colour, coherence, and dress as a strategic communication system.

  5. Which invisible aesthetic details are operating as credibility signals in every room you enter, and which are working against you?

    FrameworkGrooming Standard
    SourceGlenn O'Brien · How to Be a Man

    Aesthetic details as sub-conscious credibility signals across cultures.

  6. How to be charismatic, and what are the key factors to keep in mind?

    FrameworkVanessa Edwards' Charisma Formula
    SourceVanessa Van Edwards · Cues

    Mastering verbal and non-verbal cues and understanding the charisma formula.

A founder has to be ready to handle unprecedented scenarios. AI has increased uncertainty, and this module prepares you to lead your team through crisis calmly, clearly, and with the kind of presence that builds loyalty when it matters most.

  1. Why do the first 24 hours of a crisis determine 70% of its long-term outcome, and what do you say when you do not yet know what happened?

    FrameworkCrisis Communication
    SourceJames Lukaszewski · Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication · Brunswick + Kekst playbooks

    First-24-hour protocols; holding statements and controlled disclosure.

  2. How do you answer the question you wish you had been asked without appearing evasive, and how do you close a hostile interaction at maximum authority?

    FrameworkHostile Interview Method
    SourceSally Adams · Interviewing for Journalists (BBC / ABC media training canon)

    BBC/ABC technique: bridge, pivot, narrative control without deception.

  3. How do you achieve a measurable physiological reset in 60 seconds before a camera, a boardroom ambush, or a hostile panel?

    FrameworkHRV Coherence (HeartMath)
    SourceDoc Childre & Howard Martin · The HeartMath Solution

    Physiological and emotional regulation under extreme pressure.

  4. How do you conduct a necessary conversation in a 15-minute boardroom window when trust has already been damaged?

    FrameworkFierce Conversations, Crisis Variant
    SourceSusan Scott · Fierce Conversations

    Difficult conversations with the board and damaged stakeholders at speed.

  5. How to build a crisis plan ahead of time?

    FrameworkHarvard Negotiation Project
    SourceRoger Fisher & William Ury · Getting to Yes

    Reduce confusion and emotional decisions. Build a step-by-step playbook ahead of time.

  6. How to move from zero-sum bargaining to win-win by balancing empathy and assertiveness?

    FrameworkCambridge Negotiations Lab · 9-Step Framework
    SourceDavid Lax & James Sebenius · 3-D Negotiation

    Understanding conflicting and shared interests. Interests vs. positions; BATNA; principled negotiation under pressure.

The most valuable deals, partnerships, and opportunities happen in informal settings, dinners, events, hallway conversations. Learn how to be at your best when the stakes are invisible.

  1. Where are the highest-risk points of inadvertent offence across the three most commercially significant cultural theatres, and how do you navigate them without a visible error?

    FrameworkGlobal Protocol
    SourceTerri Morrison · Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands · Roger Axtell · Gestures

    European, Asian, Middle Eastern formal contexts; seating, gifting, hierarchy.

  2. What are the six topic pillars that open doors at the highest tables, and what separates genuine intellectual engagement from name-dropping?

    FrameworkDavos-Calibre Conversation
    SourceKlaus Schwab · The Fourth Industrial Revolution (WEF reading canon)

    High-altitude discourse on geopolitics, AI, art, history, innovation, sport.

  3. How do you enter, sustain, and exit a conversation in a room where everyone present is a peer and conventional networking advice does not apply?

    FrameworkNetworking at Altitude
    SourceKeith Ferrazzi · Never Eat Alone

    Room-working in peer-level contexts: entry, connection, graceful exit.

  4. What is the minimum viable beverage and dining intelligence for a global executive, and where does ignorance become a visible credential gap?

    FrameworkFormal Dinner Mastery
    SourceLetitia Baldrige · New Manners for New Times

    Wine, toasts, ceremony, and dining protocol across cultures.

  5. How does the way a leader travels communicate their literacy with the world their clients and counterparts inhabit?

    FrameworkTravel Protocol
    SourceDebrett's · Etiquette for Business Success

    Private aviation, hotel protocol, arrival architecture.

  6. What is the follow-through protocol that separates those who build lasting relationships at altitude from those who are remembered only as a business card?

    FrameworkPost-Meeting Follow-Through
    SourceKeith Ferrazzi · Who's Got Your Back

    Relationship capital maintenance: handwritten notes, gifting, strategic contact.

How It Works

Not a programme. A private engagement.

1

Intake Assessment

Before your first session, your coach maps your communication profile, your strengths, blindspots, and the specific high-stakes situations you need to master. Every module is then tailored to your professional context.

2

Monthly 1:1 Sessions

Each module runs across 12 hours of live, private sessions in Month 1 through 6. No group cohort. No shared sessions. Just your coach, your agenda, and real-time feedback.

3

Ongoing Integration

Between sessions, you work on live application, real speeches, real meetings, real crises. Your coach reviews recordings, drafts, and outcomes. The learning doesn't stop when the session ends.

A Word on Education

The future of education is not just a means to an end, but a transformative journey that shapes leaders and innovators.

Mr. Manoj Kohli

Former MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel

Manoj Kohli on Masters' Union

The Faculty

Taught by operators, not lecturers.

Dr. Rajita ChaudhuriCapt. Raghu RamanAshwin Mushran

Faculty

Faculty · 01 / 03

Faculty / Brand, Media & Communication

Dr. Rajita Chaudhuri

Professor of Marketing · Author · Columnist

One of India's most recognised voices on brand, consumer behaviour, and executive communication. Two decades of coaching senior leaders on how to think, speak, and be seen with clarity, across boardrooms, national media, and global stages.

Selected Portfolio

  • ·Leading Business Columns & Op-Eds
  • ·Marketing Faculty, Top B-Schools
  • ·Executive Media & Presence Coaching
Faculty · 02 / 03

Faculty / Leadership & Boardroom Presence

Capt. Raghu Raman

Founding CEO, NATGRID · Former President, Reliance Industries

Soldier, strategist and boardroom operator. Built India's National Intelligence Grid, led group-level functions at Reliance, and now advises CXOs on decision-making, gravitas and high-stakes communication under real pressure.

Selected Portfolio

  • ·Founding CEO, NATGRID, Govt. of India
  • ·President, Reliance Industries
  • ·Bestselling Author & Keynote Speaker
Faculty · 03 / 03

Faculty / Performance, Voice & Stagecraft

Ashwin Mushran

Actor · Voice Artist · Executive Speaking Coach

Three decades on stage, screen, and behind the mic. Trains founders and senior leaders on voice, pacing, presence, and the craft of holding a room, from investor pitches to global keynotes.

Selected Portfolio

  • ·Feature Film & Television Actor
  • ·Voice of Leading National Brands
  • ·Speaking & Stagecraft Coach to CXOs

Backed by Masters' Union

India's most practice-led business school.

Masters' Union was built on a single philosophy: real learning happens through real stakes. Every programme is designed around live cases, practitioner faculty, and outcomes that matter in the boardroom. The Executive Presence & Public Speaking programme brings that same philosophy into a private, bespoke format, for leaders who have already graduated from theory.

Masters' Union

Investment & Application

A private engagement. A clear structure.

A very small number of engagements are available each quarter. Seats are allocated by application and are not available on demand. Once invited to join, the fee is simple, and fixed: a modest application fee to begin the review, and a confirmation fee once a seat is offered. Total programme fees cover the full six-month, 72-hour engagement.

Apply for ConsiderationNominate a leader

Fee structure

International (USD)
Application fees$50
Confirmation fees$1,000
Tuition fees$49,999
Total fees$50,999

All figures are inclusive of programme materials and live 1:1 coaching. Travel and accommodation, if any, are billed separately.

GST will not be applicable on tuition and admission fees, as we are registered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

Admissions Office

Get in Touch.

Email

executive.admissions@mastersunion.org

Phone

+91 9899-741-741

Working Hours

Monday - Saturday, 9 AM - 9 PM IST

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Frequently Asked

Questions about the programme.

The programme is built for senior executives, founders, and leaders who are 12 to 24 months away from a significant step up, a board seat, a CEO transition, or a role with substantially greater visibility and accountability. It is not a general-purpose coaching engagement. If you are already operating effectively at your level and simply want incremental improvement, this programme is not the right fit.

The programme is designed as a virtual engagement. Presence work, recorded footage, and stakeholder sessions could be conducted in person. The format is agreed at the outset based on your location and schedule.

Entirely. The programme operates as a private practice. Your engagement, the content of your sessions, your assessment scores, and your identity as a participant are held in strict confidence. An NDA is available and standard at this level of engagement.

The programme investment is shared during the private conversation, once we have understood your context, goals, and readiness. At this level of engagement, the right question is rarely cost, it is fit. If the programme is right for you, the investment conversation will be straightforward.