Effective Leadership: Some of the most powerful and influential people throughout history have had an effective Leadership a “secret weapon”. What made Dr. Martin Luther King one of the most respected, quoted, and followed men of modern times?
What caused John F. Kennedy to be so seductive to the general public as well as to the most beautiful women of his time? What led young men and women to murder on the command of the deranged cult leader Charles Manson?
These people, and countless others like them, possess one great weapon and that is charisma.
Effective Leadership.
This post is your complete guide to acquiring the most powerful leadership skill that history has ever known. You are going to learn exactly what is meant by “charisma” and “being charismatic.” It is a term often used yet rarely understood.
You are going to have the mystery removed from charisma forever. Defining charisma is important, but not enough.
You are going to get into the nature of charisma and all the charismatic leaders. Inner and outer dimensions of charisma are going to be explored, simplified, and applied.
Do you have a friend or relative that everyone loves to be around? After reading and applying this, that person could be you. Have you ever had a boss or colleague everyone seems to love working with and going the extra mile for? Charisma can help you turbo-charge your professional life like those people.
If you have ever been in a relationship or marriage and felt insecure or jealous, charisma is the answer to your issues. Charismatic partners are the best to be with and becoming one will allow you to stay with, or attract, the person of your dream.
Now let’s get to the point.
Charisma is defined as possessing compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others. There are three main components of charisma: personality, actions, and words. Once you understand the fundamentals of each component, we will then see how they combine into a complete process, commonly known as “being charismatic.”
Personality.
Personality can be understood as the inner aspect of charisma. This aspect includes the thought processes, beliefs, experiences, and understandings that have led to someone attaining a charismatic outlook.
I want you to picture a person sitting alone in a room. If they are not saying or doing anything, can that person still be considered charismatic? Yes; they may be considered “internally charismatic” because they could possess the necessary mixture of inner aspects that allow them to outwardly express charisma congruently. If you are questioning the use or even reality of charisma existing as an “inner dimension,” let it be explained further.
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Have you ever come across someone you could describe as charming but not charismatic? Think of a waiter greeting you who you could describe as charming, but not charismatic. Think of a waiter greeting you or a politician trying to win your vote; he or she will likely deploy a lot of charm, but this is unlikely to result in you feeling deeply moved by who they are. This is the key to understanding why internal charisma matters. With only the outer signs of charisma, one is simply wearing the mask of a charismatic being, while internally, that being is anything but charismatic. People are surprisingly adept at noticing this incongruence and are repelled by it. In its simplest form, inner charisma can be understood as a set of beliefs, attitudes, and understandings that are reinforced and backed up by reference experiences. What does this mean in reality?
You might genuinely “believe” that being positive and warm to people can result in being able to influence them. You may have read it or witnessed it secondhand. However, until you apply this idea to your own life and actually feel the difference it makes, you won’t have internalized it. Every time an understanding is enforced by an occurrence can be understood as a reference experience.
Some people make the mistake of seeing the world in black and white terms, with people either being charismatic or appalling. This is a mistake; don’t think of charisma as something that can be turned on or off. Think of it as a scale— people can be more or less charismatic.
This applies to charisma as a whole, but also to inner charisma as an aspect. Over time, you can become “more” or “less” internally charismatic. This involves progressing gradually, over time, in the main areas of internal charisma.
Actions.
We have looked at an oversight of charisma’s internal dimension. This has showed that charisma is something that can, and must, exist within a person, as well as outwardly through their expression. We will now briefly explore how it is applied outwardly through the expression.
I want now to briefly explain the main aspects of the “outer dimension” of charisma, known as “actions.” Outward charisma is not a singular concept. Rather, it consists of various different external charismatic manifestations working in harmony to leave a charismatic impression. These include a person’s body language (on a macro and micro scale), the words you speak, the way in which the words are spoken and the way a person moves on the stage.
The body language is extremely important. Some of the facets of body language that charismatic people exhibit the most include their posture, manner of sitting, manner of standing, gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, choice of clothing and the way they use the stage or the floor.
Behavior is a vastly important part of the outer dimension of charisma. This includes a person’s behavior towards him or herself, his or her peers, those he or she leads, and his or her behavior towards non-interpersonal aspects of life such as their organization, efficiency, and time management.
A person’s track record, as well as their present day behavior, is also important with regards to their charisma, but less so than what a person displays in the present moment. As stated, it is possible to display the outer signs of charisma without having the internal aspects to support them.
Such people are overly charming without being convincingly charismatic. It is also very difficult to sustain charismatic outer behaviors without the supportive internal dimensions. Long term, sustained charismatic action is therefore usually indicative of a charismatic internal dimension.
Words.
A person’s use of the spoken and written word is also a key contributor to the overall level of charisma he or she exudes.
If you stop and think of any charismatic figure throughout history, famous or otherwise, you are sure to charismatic figure you are sure to recognize him or her by the words connected to him. Charismatic speech has an inner and outer dimension.
It also has an intellectual and emotional synchronicity which are equally important for speech to be considered charismatic.
To briefly introduce the ideas of internal and external charismatic words, and their intellectual and emotional dimension, let’s consider an example from history—Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s famous, “I Have a Dream” speech. “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.
This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” This small, lesser-known extract from “I Have a Dream” illustrates both the inner, outer, intellectual, and emotional dimensions of charismatic word usage.
When Dr. Martin Luther King says, “the fierce urgency of now,” it is drawing upon the emotional power of charismatic word usage. “Fierce” is a poignant term intended to arouse a response in its audience.
Dr. Martin Luther King phrase, “the tranquilizing drug of gradualism,” is an example of combining the emotional and intellectual appeal of charismatic words simultaneously.
The idea of a “tranquilizing drug” impacts upon a person’s emotions whereas the term “gradualism” speaks primarily to the intellect. By choosing these words, in this combination, Dr. Martin Luther King is appealing to both the hearts and minds of people at once.
This is beyond more charismatic than appealing to only one or the other. So what of the inner and outer dimensions of words? Let’s begin with the inner.
When Dr. Martin Luther King speaks of his “four little children” these are not mere words. These are very real, precious aspects of King’s life. He has an emotional attachment to the words he speaks – they come from within his heart and mind as well as the page in front of him.
This is what is meant by the inner dimension of charismatic speech: the ability to attach genuine emotional meaning to chosen words. By contrast, the outer dimension of words are the actual way in which the words are delivered.
Think about King’s speech or, even better, go online and watch it. Listen to the way in which he delivers his words. Does he sound confident? Yes. Hopeful? Yes. Wise? Certainly. Notice how King pauses to let his words resonate with his audience. He even elicits responses in a way that is particularly engaging to his chosen audience, a concept to be expanded upon later.
This brief, illustrated example into the power of charismatic words has shown that language is at its most charismatic when it has all four dimensions at once – intellectual, emotional, inner, and outer. This is the formula for speaking as charismatically as the greatest orators of all time.
We have explored how charisma consists of personality, actions, and words. If you notice, each of these is only an aspect, one piece of a larger puzzle. When people speak of “being charismatic,” what they are actually talking about is a process with an end result.
True charisma, or being charismatic, occurs when a person is able to authentically align their charismatic personality, actions, and words.
True charisma occurs only when all aspects are present. Let’s explore an example to understand this in depth. Imagine a person who is internally charismatic, but is not able to express these inner aspects in any way.
Such a person has charismatic potential; however, without having a way to display his or her actions and words, they cannot be considered fully charismatic.
Someone who is able to offer charismatic actions without words is unlikely to ever truly be charismatic either. Anyone who has ever dated someone who is externally attractive, but unable to hold a conversation will relate to this idea.
The way in which a person looks and moves may suggest they are charismatic, but without the power of words to finalize this perception, their charisma is ultimately lacking.
Consider someone who is able to offer charismatic speech, but without an inner reality or action to compliment it. Such a person might be seen as a conman, or sweet-talker.
They know how to talk the talk, but not walk the walk. Someone who is able to speak charmingly, but does not live a charismatic life, is likely to also lack the internal elements of charisma. Now, in contrast, let’s consider someone who possesses all of the charismatic aspects.
If he or she has the correct beliefs and mindset, it is almost inevitable to translate into charismatic action. For example, if someone truly believes in helping people and making a difference in the world, it is almost inevitable they will act in this way.
Consider the internal element of charisma as a seed. It almost always manifests in an outer representation of its potential. As a person who possesses inner charisma is almost bound to take charismatic action, this reinforces his or her internal charisma. The two are a self-perpetuating cycle of charismatic continuation.
Of all the three aspects of charisma, speech is perhaps the least natural. Even the best speakers must have been heavily influenced with regards to their speech. This can occur organically, such as through early exposure to impactful speakers, or consciously learning it, such as when a person makes a deliberate effort to learn to use charisma effectively.
Cultivating Abundance: The Extraordinary Power of Giving
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