Performing well at work can do wonders for your career. So does getting along with colleagues.

But if you want to run a big company, you need something more.

You need style. The style of power. Style that calmly commands a boardroom full of executives. Style that says you’re in total control, that you can handle a crisis with ease and you know exactly what’s going on - that you own the place.

“Despite what is going on, successful CEOs have this calm, confident manner - they have a powerful presence,” says Dee Soder, managing partner of CEO Perspectives Group, who advises CEOs amid crises and trains upwardly mobile executives on the style, mannerisms and voice of a powerful executive.

“Most of the time when people talk about leaders around them, they’re talking about a leadership presence - what we more commonly understand as charisma.”

Of course, no whopping amount of surface style can save a CEO from major corporate blunders or accounting scandals, “but if you want to be even an assistant regional manager at a place like Goldman Sachs, you better get this stuff down cold,” Soder says.

Leadership consultant Debra Benton notes that these rules apply out of the office, too. CEOs are always on display.

“You should be nice to the waitress or the clerk at Sears,” she says. “If the CEO shows up at Wal-Mart in a ratty T-shirt and 20 people see them being rude to someone, people notice.”

CEOs are human, Benton says, but they exercise a key skill.

“They are just as uncomfortable, uncertain, insecure and full of frustration as anyone else. They are just better actors,” Benton says.

Still, this doesn’t mean being stuffy all the time for a seasoned executive.

Consider the case of Robert Edward “Ted” Turner. Turner was the tender age of 24 when he took over the family billboard business after his father’s death. He parlayed that company into a little network called CNN, built TBS and TNT and created a global media juggernaut.

A brash and unpredictable innovator, Turner used such key CEO tactics as competitive sailing against foreign dignitaries - whom he later hit up to give access to his CNN crews around the world.

Or consider another billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, who runs an airline, record label and more than 100 other companies under the Virgin banner. Branson is a famously casual dresser who relishes a daredevil stunt - such as ballooning around the globe.

So, for the would-be CEO, here are some tips from the experts for acting the part.

The Do’s

Do pause in the doorway when entering a room. It draws attention and makes a nonverbal announcement that you have arrived.

Do arrive for appointments on time, and remain standing in a waiting room. Little people sit down to wait. CEOs expect entrance on time.

Do offer space in a crowded elevator, but stand in the middle.

Do wear high-quality shoes. Ninety percent of people say they notice people’s shoes, CEO adviser Dee Soder says. The same goes for clothes, pens and cell phones.

Do stand up and sit up straight. CEOs don’t slouch.

Do use a firm handshake, and keep eye contact. CEOs don’t shake fingers or offer a limp grip.

Do respond to messages promptly and personally with peers - within a day - but use brevity. CEOs don’t make lengthy explanations. They declare.

Do study company rosters and photos. CEOs should know their troops.

The Don’ts

Don’t rush. CEOs manage their time well and won’t be seen trotting down a hallway.

Don’t carry anything. CEOs rely on their knowledge. They don’t schlep briefcases, binders or bundles of documents. If they need more information, they call the office.

Don’t ramble or use throwaway words such as “um,” “well” or “hmmm.” CEOs control their vocabulary and … make … every … word … count.

Don’t say “I think.” Average people say what they think. CEOs make declarative statements of fact. They say, “The market will ...” or “That company can’t ...”

Don’t nod repeatedly or furrow your brow when presented with a question or problem. CEOs think, then respond.

Don’t gossip. It’s OK to explain the nature of certain people if that’s useful. But people notice if you talk cheaply of others - and worry if you do the same about them.

Don’t slap backs or give hearty “atta boys!” CEOs use minimal gestures, calm tones and patrician compliments. CEOs don’t high-five.

Don’t ever, ever, ever, display anger, surprise or lack of control - especially amid a crisis. CEOs are masters of the universe.

Don’t follow every rule as if set in stone. For example, leadership consultant Debra Benton says, “I once knew a CEO who would take a wooden pencil into meetings he knew would be very frustrating. At a key moment, he would snap the pencil in two, acting the part of an angry CEO. It was theater, but he pulled it off.”

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.

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