Leading with charisma

Do you have the charisma to be an effective leader? It’s a quality that’s certainly worth possessing – and developing.

Studies confirm that charismatic leaders tend to engender higher motivation, performance and job satisfaction in followers than their less charismatic peers. Followers include not only employees within organisations but also supporters in social movements and voters in political elections. Charismatic leaders also obtain better career outcomes, with charisma measured at one point in time being linked to higher compensation and managerial level up to 15 years later.

Some commentators consider charisma to be an indefinable quality that allows leaders to influence and inspire followers. However, organisational psychologists have increasingly identified specific personality traits and learnable behaviours that permit certain leaders to be seen as more charismatic.

Charmers

A scientific investigation led by the University of Liechtenstein’s Thomas Maran found that leaders who spent longer gazing into the eyes of followers were rated as more charismatic. Critics may claim that the finding is obvious, but if the result truly were obvious to all leaders, then everybody would engage in high levels of eye-directed gazing. That there are major differences in the extent to which leaders use this tactic suggests that many seemingly obvious behaviours remain overlooked by leaders wishing to develop their charisma.

Charismatic leaders frequently use rhetorical devices such as metaphors. A CEO might speak about ‘opening the doors of opportunity’ or ‘planting seeds for the future’ when there are clearly no actual doors or seeds involved.

Neuroscientific investigations have shown that metaphorical statements generate greater activation in the amygdala and anterior portion of the hippocampus than equivalent literal statements. This suggests that the more decorative, metaphorical expressions are processed more deeply in listeners’ brains than plainer, merely factually accurate statements.

Charismatic leaders also tend to be more positive in their use of language, according to studies by academics Joyce Bono and Remus Ilies. The researchers recorded vision statements made by real leaders and counted the number of positive emotion words (eg ‘happy’, ‘good’) used. Leaders who used a higher proportion of positive emotion words were typically rated as more charismatic.

Even leaders’ clothing choices affect judgments about their charisma. One study revealed that leaders wearing more casual outfits in highly structured organisational cultures tended to be perceived as more charismatic. Conversely, leaders in highly dynamic organisations made a better impression when they dressed formally in traditional suits. In other words, leaders who challenge organisational convention are seen as more charismatic.

Culture-sensitive

However, charisma is not one set of behaviours that are universally effective. For instance, some countries are considered low-gesture cultures (eg the UK, Germany) while other countries (eg Israel, Greece) are considered high-gesture. One study showed that speakers who made symmetric gestures (eg simultaneously raising both hands to chest height) were judged more charismatic than those who gestured asymmetrically (eg moving one hand but not the other) by an audience in a low-gesture country. In contrast, asymmetric movements were considered more charismatic in a high-gesture country culture.

Charisma does not always have positive effects, though. Researchers led by Ghent University’s Jasmine Vergauwe found a non-linear relationship between leaders’ charisma and their effectiveness as judged by observers. Moderate – rather than high or low – levels of charisma were associated with the highest levels of effectiveness.

This finding aligns with the idea that an excess of any strength in leaders can often become problematic. The researchers’ data showed that leaders low on charisma were strongly operational but did not act strategically enough (eg they showed insufficient focus on establishing long-term direction or a rousing vision). Conversely, leaders high on charisma demonstrated plenty of strategic behaviour but not enough operational behaviour. In other words, leaders with high charisma articulated lofty goals but were less able to turn their grand visions into reality.

Charisma in this investigation was measured by leaders’ self-ratings on a psychometric test. It is notable that leaders’ subjective evaluations of their own charisma were indicative of their colleagues’ judgments about their effectiveness. These highly charismatic leaders willingly described themselves as persuasive, confident and visionary. Unfortunately, too much persuasion may be perceived by others as manipulative, too much confidence as arrogant, and too much vision as unrealistic.

In short, leaders would be wise to pay attention to the concept of charisma. Insufficient charisma links to lower employee motivation and performance, and cultivating it is entirely achievable. However, research suggests that too much of it is definitely not a good thing and that potential employers should treat it with caution.