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Charismatic Leadership: A Guide For the Perplexed
Charisma is one of the most important yet least understood attribute of transformational leadership. Those who have it can work "miracles."
Find out more about:
- Definitions
- What it is
- Defining Charisma
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"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description of hard-core pornography; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it." Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter
Quotes on Charisma
Transformational leaders need a bit of charisma. However, as the above quote illustrates, charisma has an element of the undefinable—something that can only be experienced, can only be felt. There are quite a few definitions of this leadership style. Here are a few of the more interesting quotes.
"Charisma is a sparkle in people that money can't buy. It's an invisible energy with visible effects." — Marianne Williamson
"We need less posturing and more genuine charisma. Charisma was originally a religious term, meaning "of the spirit" or "inspired." It's about a sparkle in people that money can't buy. It's an invisible energy with visible effects.." Marianne Williamson
Crawl: "You have got charisma! Becca!: Hats that? It's a special quality of leadership that captures the popular imagination and inspires allegiance and devotion." Movie: Son in Law (1993)
"Charisma is a fancy name given to the knack of giving people your full attention." — Robert Brault
Alex Law: "I mean, my first impression, and they're rarely wrong, is that you have none of the qualities that we normally seek in a prospective flatmate. 'I talking here about things like presence, charisma, style and charm, and I don't think were asking too much, I don't think were being unreasonable." Shallow Grave, Movie (1994)
"Charm is charisma in the lady." — M. Johannsen.
Do You Need Charisma?
"Throw away those books and cassettes on inspirational leadership. Send those consultants packing. Know your job, set a good example for the people under you and put results over politics. That's all the charisma you'll really need to succeed." Dyan Machan.
Of course, this view has some truth to it. If you are in a large bureaucratic organization, you can use your authority, and the power associated with the position. Indeed, most people we find in organizations lack charisma. They are bland personalities, the person you never remember, who has nothing of interest to focus on. They are the people we forget since they can never get anyone excited about what they are doing.
So do you need charisma? The answer is no. One can be a small cog in the great machine. However, it you want to be a leader, if you want to have followers, if you want to do anything great, you better have it. |
Defining The Undefinable: What is Charisma?
For many, charisma is something you know it, when you experience. It's one of those hard to define characteristics, like beauty. However, House in 1976 came up with a theory of how certain leaders project charisma. There are six of these important characteristics.
1. Project an Image of Competence.
Impression management is easy for many leaders—they surround themselves with ministers of propaganda and press agents, people skills in publicity and spin doctors of all sorts.
2. Appeal to hidden aspirations, fears or needs of the followers.
Charismatics can appeal to emotions. Some emotions are much more easy to appeal to than others. It is an unfortunately fact of life, that those with charisma can arouse either negative emotions or positive ones. Hitler appealing to German pride and prejudice. Provide meaning to peoples lives. And a well crafted speech can do both.
It takes little skill to make people afraid for fear is one of the most basic emotions of all. For example, a leader can use a terrorist incident to rally people to action. One can also appeal to hope.
It's much harder to create a positive emotional appeal. For example, while one can create hope, hope tends not to result in action. One can see this in the 2008 campaign of Barrack Obama.
| An Obama Campaign Poster |
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The most widely distributed version of Shepard Fairey's Obama poster, featuring the word "hope." Other versions used the words "change" and "progress." |
3. When you have Charisma, you can Set High Expectations
A very closely related
Story:: The three high school teachers
Quote:Kennedy saying, " Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
4. Leader Role Modeling
In some respects, a those with charisma are surrounded by people who act like children, complex children, but still children. People will look to your behavior to determine what's acceptable. They hang on every word. They watch every action. They look into your eyes for hints on how your thoughts will go and they read your face to read intentions.
Modeling can be rather simple. For example, Pepsi CEO Donald Kendall would never miss a chance to hoist a Pepsi in public, and he expects his employees to behave the same way. . Louis, Arthur (1981). The Tycoons. New York: Simon and Shuster page 76
A more subtle aspect of this role modeling would be a psychological mechanism known as Identification. With charismatic leaders, followers will identify with them.
5. Arousal of Motivation
Able to manipulate people's emotions. Ex Hitler -- known for tirades of rage. Difficult to resist. Able to intimidate.
6. Persuasive speaker
I am firmly convinced that the art of persuasive speaking is mostly dead. It dies when students learn how to imitate their boring professors. You know the ones who can put to sleep the insomniac. However, if one has the gift (a learned gift of course) one can accomplish a great deal.
In the 1970's John Debutt, a former CEO of AT&T snapped the company out of its slump, and he did it largely on the strength of his considerable charisma. He and tow other top executives went on the grand tour of the U.S., giving pep talks to thousands of Bell System managers. "We talked to people at mass meetings to give them confidence," he recalled, "and also to let them know what this new management team looked like, and what we sounded like." We let them ask anything they wanted to ask, and we'd answer them. Within a few years the Bell System had not only overcome its service problems, but had surpassed all previous records for trouble free service. Louis, Arthur (1981). The Tycoons. New York: Simon and Shuster page 96 7.
7. Self-confidence
"I may be wrong, but I'm never in doubt."
The leadership experts can seem to agree on what traits are most associated with leadership. However, one trait tends to make it into most everyone lists and that is self-confidence.
References
House, R. J.(1976). "A 1976 Theory of Charismatic Leadership." In J. G. Hunt and L. L. Larson. (beds.), Leadership: The Cutting Edge. Carbondale: Southern Illinois.
Bruce J. Avolio, Tracy C. Gibbons (1988) Developing Transformational Leaders: A Life Span Approach, in Charismatic Leadership: The Elusive Factor in Organizational Effectiveness by Jay A. Conger, Rabindra N. Kanuggo and Associates
Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
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