The uncommon Communicator Resources

What is Charisma

• Characteristics of a charismatic person:

  1. Confidence
  Many of the most powerful and successful leaders exude confidence. They rarely show self-doubt and are usually in control of their emotions. To be a strong leader, you will have to practice self-confidence. You can’t second guess yourself or feel shy around your colleagues. Be sure when leading a project, to be positive and see the glass as half full. This will help your confidence come across to your team and can lead to a positive outcome.
  2. Creativity
  Charismatic leaders often think outside the box and aren’t afraid to take risks. This means that they tend to come up with creative solutions. When a problem arises, strong leaders rise to the challenge—instead of falling to it. When they come up with creative solutions often this can lead to positive change that will ultimately transform the business in a good way.
  3. Vision
  Leaders with great charisma are constantly looking towards the future and ways to improve it. They follow their goals and know exactly what they are striving to achieve. Show that you have a vision by expressing it to others on your team. If they know you’re looking to improve the future in some capacity, they will take note.
  4. Determination
  To achieve their vision, leaders must be determined to hit those goals. Even when they run into challenges, they must push through. Show your determination as a leader by not giving up when you encounter roadblocks and use the other characteristics like creativity and confidence to support your determination. This will surely inspire others.
  5. Communication
  Great leaders are strong communicators. Specifically, they know to be deliberate and thoughtful in their communication. Strong communicators do not speak in jargon and terms that people may or may not understand. Rather, great communicators speak in plain language that is understood by all. In addition, some of the best leaders I have observed know how to use “stories” to get their message or point across to others. Lastly, being direct and kind is one of the key elements I have seen lead to successful communication.

  Now, let’s address the idea that you can train this skill or at least improve your charismatic presence.

  According to Richard Wiseman, professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, in England, you don’t need divine powers to be charismatic. He estimates that charisma is half inborn and half acquired, which means you must be blessed with certain qualities at birth, but you also need to nurture and develop them. He says every charismatic leader share three qualities: He or she feels emotions very strongly, excites them in others and is impervious to the influence of other charismatic people.
  ⦁ Feels emotions strongly.
  What are you passionate about? That’s a great way to develop your charisma. This does seem to be fundamental in developing this skill. People will sense your sincerity and when driven by passion, even if they don’t believe everything you are saying, they know for sure that YOU do. Develop your charisma doing what you enjoy and sharing it with others.
  ⦁ Excites them in others.
  When we are around charismatic people we fall under their influence. They can make us better just in how we are feeling in the moment. They might call us to action. Have you tried a new restaurant because someone gave such a passionate review? Influence is one of the drivers to develop your charisma. This is a result of feeling your emotions strongly and getting others to feel them along with you. This one may be a hard one to see clearly. When you see others responding to you, try adding some fuel to their fire and see if you can build upon the interest.
  ⦁ Be impervious to the influence of other charismatics.
  Once you develop your senses to the charismatic, you will realize that there are leaders and followers and you will not fall prey to certain tactics. Being able to detach and identify this allows you to watch the techniques of the other charismatics, even admire them. That is the key to the attraction of the charismatic. Don’t try to steel the stage, watch and learn. There can be a fine line where you don’t want ego to get in the way of your influence.

  There is a dark side:

  Charismatic leaders tend to suppress the expression of emotions of those around them. This is referred to as the awestruck affect. Awestruck followers may suffer from expressive inhibition even as charismatic leaders stir their hearts. This is a crazy phycology but has been proven time and again.

  Why does suppressing emotions matter? Some studies have shown “emotion suppression absorbs mental resources, deteriorates cognitive performance and impacts memory,” according to Menges. When a person is engaged in emotion suppression, they appear to be less able to make critical decisions, leaving them more vulnerable to individuals who have power. As a result of his findings from these two studies and one other, Menges believes that charisma as a dominant, assertive behavior is successful only when it’s matched by submissive behavior on the part of a leader’s followers.

  Now that you know what charisma is and what to watch for, how will you learn and implement this into your life?