In our Facing the Leadership Chasm article, we cited multiple key points from Cornell University ILS School’s study “Recognizing Creative Leadership: Can Creative Idea Expression Negatively Relate to Perceptions of Leadership Potential?”, including:

• Creative employees who are perceived as being charismatic ‘have a leg up’ on creative employees who are not perceived as being charismatic; and  
• Being creative but not charismatic is a promotional liability.

Let’s first take a step back and define ‘charisma’. According to Wikipedia, charisma is a “…compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.” The term is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘favor given’ or ‘gift of grace.’ Charisma can arise from two opposing foundations:

• Honorable, collaborative and authentic
• Dishonorable, manipulative and disingenuous (e.g., narcassism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy)

Our context is the former vs. latter.

In today’s society, charisma is referred to as the ‘it’ factor — either you have ‘it’ or you don’t. But what is ‘it’? According to Psychology Today’s contributing author Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D., charisma is “…a constellation of complex and sophisticated social and emotional skills” that includes the following six key ingredients:

According to research, charisma is shaped by one part temperament and personality (innate qualities) plus two parts life experiences (developed qualities over time). Per Dr. Riggio, charisma “…is deeply rooted in [one's] ability to communicate emotionally (related to the notion of ‘emotional intelligence’ and relationship skills that allow charismatic individuals to make deep connections with others. Oratorical skills being positive and optimistic, and being emotionally expressive are also part of the building blocks of charisma.”  

What does charisma look like? According to Dr. Alex “Sandy” Pentland, MIT Human Dynamics Lab Director and Harvard Business Review contributing author, charismatic people:

• Are positive and energetic
• Exude self-confidence
• Talk more but are also great listeners
• Spend more face-to-face time with others
• Pick up cues from others, draw people out and get them to be more outgoing
• Appear to know what they’re talking about in the short term
• Prove they know what they’re talking about in the long term

Mr. Pentland and his colleague, Mr. Daniel Olguin, have drawn these conclusions based on quantitative data. They’ve developed charismatic measuring devices that, when affixed to business executives in competitive situations, record ‘social signals’ or ‘social cues’  that analyze the executives’ tone of voice, gesticulation, proximity to others and more. The collected data is used to successfully predict who will succeed in competitive business situations without the data analyzers being privy to the business executives’ pitches. The results — those business executives who convey the above attributes consistently succeed in selling their ideas, products and services. Although that outcome may be jaw-dropping for individuals who are not charismatic and/or who don’t genuinely value the importance of connecting with people both emotionally and socially, the results are far from surprising to those who are charasmatic.

Charisma is, no doubt, a highly powerful and influential tool when built upon an honorable, collaborative and authentic foundation. The good news…if you have a ‘charisma conducive’ personality and temperament, which is one-third of the equation, you can develop your abilities to emotionally and socially connect with others. Like any behavioral change, your transformation will not occur over night and will require a targeted plan, dedicated time investment, focused energy, a positive attitude plus practice, practice and more practice!

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (June 2011).

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The Business of IT and Human Connectedness
Presented by NEO IT Think Tank

September 22, 2010

Corporate Plaza 1
6450 Rockside Woods Blvd S
Independence, OH  44131

Gwen Walsh, President and Founder of TechEdge, will be our program speaker.

Being in the Business of IT, a large chunk of our success depends on our ability to understand and positively influence our customers, executives, managers, peers, staff and business partners.  Every time we engage in a conversation, pitch an idea, investigate a problem, fulfill a request, initiate or implement a change, address (or fail to address) a conflict or provide a product or service, we’re being evaluated and judged by others.  The cold, harsh truth is – each interaction and corresponding judgment directly impacts how others perceive us, how they will react to us now and in the future, whether or not they will support us in the work that lies ahead and how our legacy will be shaped.

Because we’re in the Business of IT and predominantly focused on technologies, activities, tasks, pressures, deadlines, you-name-it, we oftentimes forge ahead without critically thinking through our human-to-human interactions.  Before you know it, we’re working in environments where trust, collaboration, positive attitudes, high productivity and employee morale are plummeting, and silos, territorialism, personal agendas, infighting, apathy, negativism, adversarial relationships and missed deadlines and service levels are on the uptick.

We must create environments where people genuinely matter, and to do that we need to become better at HUMAN CONNECTEDNESS.

Our next Face-to-Face meeting will address Human Connectedness.  We will:

• Define Human Connectedness.
• Discuss the compelling reasons for increasing Human Connectedness.
• Ask simple questions that will help us assess our own Human Connectedness effectiveness.
• Explore the principles that, when followed, create a Human Connectedness environment.
• Take away tools that can be immediately applied in your workplace to increase your Human Connectedness factor.

Special thanks to Clay Bediant, VP at Ratliff & Taylor, for sponsoring our location.

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You can RSVP to this event on LinkedIn or Facebook.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Why would I decide to share such a private, painful slice of my life with a complete stranger at that particular moment in time? Because I thought that by offering a glimpse into my world to a person affiliated with a worthy charity would be a respectful, considerate, thoughtful and patient way to help him understand that now was not the time to engage me in a “Can I 100% count on you to volunteer?” discussion. Admittedly, what occurred next was completely unexpected.

Without skipping a beat, the young man retorted “Well that’s why we give you 30 days to send out the donation cards!” Did I actually just hear him say that? Did he really just say “OK, I hear that your mom is dying, but with the 30-day clock running, you should still have some time after that to send out our postcards?” As I quickly replayed the tape in my head, I immediately concluded that he inadvertently didn’t hear the part about my mother. So I reiterated “My mother’s health is failing. Now is not a good time for me.” Being quick on the uptake yet again, my phone partner leapt to his Call to Action: Plan B script — “OK — you can always request our postcards at a future date by calling us at 877-###-####. “ 

Thought Provoker: Wikipedia describes “lost art” as “original pieces of art that credible sources indicate once existed, but cannot be accounted for in museums, private collections or are known to have been destroyed or neglected through ignorance and lack of connoisseurship.” Have some of us lost the art of empathy – the art of being sensitive to another person’s experiences and feelings? We know that it once existed, but are we finding that we can’t account for it in our day-to-day interactions with others? Has our ability to empathize been destroyed or neglected through ignorance and lack of connoisseurship? Is revitalizing our empathetic spirit one more opportunity to rekindle our emotional connection with those we come in contact with on a daily basis (Emotional Connection: A Universal Motivator & Change Accelerator)?

Please share your comments with us!