Excerpt from A-CHIEVE! (June 2011)

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).