I’ve always envisioned a leader with charisma as someone being extremely extroverted, with ever-exciting conversations, standing on stage rallying up a super-sized crowd. In many ways, my personality type does not match up with that description. So charisma is something that I had been thinking about off and on in my role as a leader: How important is it? Are some people just born with it? Will others never be able to develop it?
I found an interesting leadership lesson from “Maxwell’s Law” (per leadership guru Dr. John C. Maxwell) on charisma. He simply states that charisma “is the ability to draw people to you. And like other character traits, it can be developed” (p.10). He also lists some roadblocks to developing charisma: (p.12)
- Pride. Nobody wants to follow a leader who thinks he is better than everyone else.
- Insecurity. If you are uncomfortable with who you are, others will be too.
- Moodiness. If people never know what to expect from you, they stop expecting anything.
- Perfectionism. People respect the desire for excellence, but dread totally unrealistic expectations.
- Cynicism. People don’t want to be rained on by someone who sees a cloud around every silver lining.
Lots of leadership lessons here (and not just on charisma). Seeing charisma from this angle, it gives a lot of hope to those who think, “We just weren’t born with it.” It also gives a lot of warning to those in positions of leadership. If we leaders can reduce these roadblocks, not only will it be easier to draw people, but more importantly, it will make for a straighter path for them to be drawn to Jesus Christ – our ultimate reason for charisma in the first place.
0 Responses to “Drawn to Charisma”