We’ve all encountered someone we love working for or with. This person seems to possess an exceptional ability to rally the team and inspire everyone to bring their best effort to the office or any other setting. It’s as if they have a magnetic personality that naturally draws people in.
These are people who ooze charisma.
But that quality can sometimes be hard to quantify or even define. What is charisma anyway? And is it something you’re born with, or can you learn to develop it?
The good news is that you can develop charisma, especially when you understand the two key elements that define it: warmth and competency.
Let me explain.
Building Charisma
If you ask someone to define chemistry in the context of a leader, you might hear a response like: “I don’t know, but I just like them.”
That helps identify the first of the two elements contributing to building chemistry: warmth.
Charismatic leaders show authentic openness and joy in being around other people. Their joy is contagious, and it spreads throughout the entire team. It often begins with a warm smile and, depending on the circumstances, a handshake, a pat on the arm, or even a hug. These leaders are genuinely happy to see you and enjoy being around you.
That sense of inclusiveness helps you feel seen and heard–and maybe even willing to run through a wall for this person.
But genuine charisma doesn’t stop at showing warmth. It also involves demonstrating a high level of competency.
This means the leader can get stuff done. They are smart and capable, and people like to work with them because they know they’ll all be successful.
When those two elements–warmth and competency–come together in a leader, you can bet they have people willing to follow them.
It’s also easy to see the flip side of this equation. How many people would be willing to follow a leader with the personality of a cold fish who was also terrible at their job? It’s a rhetorical question. I can picture some faceless, nameless bureaucrat whose sole function is to make life miserable for everyone else.
But it also points to the need to find a balance or equilibrium between the two elements if you’re trying to enhance your charismatic skills.
Finding the Right Balance
The challenge for anyone looking to develop their charisma is that they might have more of one of the elements than the other.
Consider someone who is just naturally kind and warm. It’s just as sweet as pie. But not very smart or any good at their job. They are, as they say out west, all hat and no cattle. These are people who excel at smiling and handshaking but little else. They might be fun to have around at a party, but they’re the last ones picked when it comes to who you want working on your team at the office.
Similarly, we’ve all known people who are great at their jobs–they have skills coming from their ears. But they exude the warmth of an ice box. Think about brilliant surgeons who can save lives but don’t seem to know about bedside manners and engaging with their patients. You might want to work for these people–just not in any customer-facing role. Competent people with cold personalities often make great researchers or accountants because they’d rather not deal with others on the job.
Leading With Charisma
I remember a former boss of mine. He was older than I was when I worked for him. He was among the nicest and warmest humans I have ever worked for. He was a joy to be around. But what made him an effective leader was that he was also brilliant. He was one of the smartest people I have ever met.
Because of that combination, he was such an amazing leader that everyone in the company wanted the honor of working for him.
So, consider the leaders who impacted your career and consider how they might have done that through the balance of warmth and competency. Now, ask yourself how you can learn from them and develop your charisma to the level where people are clamoring to follow you through a brick wall.
