Charisma

This post is going to be GREAT

When people hear the word “charisma,” they often picture someone filled with extroverted enthusiasm.

Naturally charismatic people have that quality—it makes people WANT to follow them. Natural charisma appeals to many people because it comes across as warm, strong, decisive, and leading to good things. It improves morale, productivity, and the development of teams and relationships.

Not everyone has a lot of natural charisma.

And that’s okay! We don’t need to have that natural charisma in order to be inspiring leaders. Charisma can be cultivated.

Be authentic. If you are an introvert, you don’t need to be pretend to be an extrovert. That fake-ness will turn off the natural extroverts and frighten the other introverts, so it’s not worth it. But you can authentically share the things that excite you, and your genuine enthusiasm will come through and have that charismatic effect. If you can whisper, “This is going to be GREAT” about something and MEAN it, you’ve tapped into that positive energy.

Really listen to other people. We can convey that we respect and value other people by really listening to what they have to say. This enhances our value to them because of the way we make them feel.

Be positive. If you are offering to lead people to a better outcome, people will want to follow you. This does not mean you ignore the negative, but there is a HUGE difference between heaving a heavy sigh and saying, “Gah—this sucks” and saying, “Yeah, this is a tough situation. But I know we are going to get through this together. We can make this right. We can get to the other side of this if we…” It’s a matter of perspective—don’t look for the problems; look for the solutions.

(Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash)