Who do you think is the epitome of charisma, famous or otherwise? What sort of characteristics does a charismatic individual possess? How charismatic are you? Difficult questions to answer perhaps, but maybe there is a way to shed some light on this potential mystery. If you answered the first question, or if you were to think now of a charismatic individual and think about what makes them charismatic, would you be able to pinpoint it? Sometimes people just have ‘it’, whatever it may be, they just have the ‘x-factor’ or ‘wow-factor’! If you ask the oracle that is Wikipedia, even they state that charisma is ‘difficult or even impossible to define accurately’. Many definitions of charisma exist, my controversial favourite from Answers.com suggests that charisma is ‘a rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm’ which merely suggests that perhaps an individual such as Adolf Hitler was the most charismatic to walk the earth. Can charisma be understood, if so, what makes someone charismatic, and if we know that can we model charisma and therefore improve our own charisma levels? That’s exactly what Nikki Owen, course leader at ‘An Audience with Charisma’ believes at a recent personal development course I attended. The two days provided a rollercoaster journey for the 20 or so delegates including myself, looking internally and externally at charisma, and how we can improve our charisma levels. Having eased into the subject, looking at ‘famous’ charismatic individuals and understanding what makes them charismatic the group began to work towards the internal elements and a model of charisma Using a blend of techniques, art and science, from the world of quantum physics, behavioural modelling, emotional intelligence and cognitive psychology through a range of different exercises, the course delved into charisma with intense depth delivering profound effect on many of the course delegates. I am myself a massively dominant logical brainer, and this was soon identified, the course had a varying impact on me, with some exercises proving useful and interesting, without any mind-blowing effect but others exercise proving inspiring, provocative and awe-inspiring. I found myself accessing completely new emotional and spiritual territory and genuinely felt an increased personal gravitas as a result, for others; the impact on them was almost life-changing. Somewhat different from anything I’ve attended before, the two days were personally very valuable, and the group (from incredibly diverse backgrounds) I’m sure left something with valuable to them personally and whether consciously or unconsciously probably left with more charisma http://www.audiencewithcharisma.com/
One Response
Charisma
Charisma is less a personality trait and more an outome of other personal characteristics. The pre-requisite to being charismatic is the unconditional belief in a singularly focused goal. To that end, Hitler was extremely charismatic because he truly believed in what he was trying to accomplish so blindly and so unconditionally. Never mind it basis in reality or the consequences of his beliefs which were beyond heinous. Mohatma Ghandi became an extremely charismatic figure once he identified and latched on to a a set of beliefs and goals so tightly that he was literally ready to die for them. Prior to that, nobody would ever have considered Ghandi a charismatic figure, as he was not handsome, he was not well spoken, he was not particularly ambitious, he was not famous, and he was not wealthy.
It’s the unconditional belief in something that precedes charisma.