Regardless of how you feel about charismatic leaders like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, you can’t avoid the reality that leaders with high levels of charisma are popular in the current environment.
Charisma is often viewed as an almost magical quality that individuals exhibit that arouses the enthusiasm and loyalty of those around them. The emergence of charismatic leaders has always been associated with times of chaos and change.
As early as the 1940s, the work world realized that charismatic leaders can be effective in challenging times (Weber 1947). Weber argued that a leader’s charisma must be perceived by their followers for the enchantment associated with charisma to continue. However, if charismatic leaders’ perceived power diminishes, as can certainly occur when a charismatic leader is seen as too eccentric and/or self-promoting, they will lose their followers.
In their 2018 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology article, Vergauwe et al. explored the curvilinear relationship between an individual’s levels of charisma and their effectiveness as leaders. In this article, leaders increase in effectiveness as their charisma increases, up to a point. After an individual measures at a 60 percent level of charisma, which characterizes them as highly charismatic, they begin to have reduced effectiveness as a leader.
Individuals who exude charisma behave in ways that encourage commitment to their causes, whether they run a small firm or an international conglomerate. However, research from entities like the Harvard Business Review indicates that leaders who rely too heavily on charisma may struggle to obtain their goals, as their focus can make dealing with day-to-day drudgery a challenge. Likewise, research completed by Klein and Delegach (2023) indicates that charismatic leaders may need to change their leadership strategies depending upon the characteristics of those they lead.
Charismatic leaders are often linked to creative breakthroughs and technical innovation. However, highly charismatic leaders may be overconfident in their abilities and devolve into manipulative behavior to motivate their team. This can, of course, lead to any number of ethical dilemmas. Charismatic leaders may encourage their followers toward their goals rather than those of the organization.
As Klein and Delegach’s research made clear, relying solely on charisma in times of chaos can lead to disenfranchisement of highly self-directed workers. If workers feel they can’t weather a crisis or have low tolerance for uncertainty, they will rely heavily upon charismatic leaders. If individuals believe they can handle the situation themselves or doubt the leader’s ability to meet the crisis, they will distance themselves from the leader and their organization. Thus, balance within an organization can allow for adaptability in times of crisis, regardless of the characteristics of those they seek to lead.
Highly charismatic leaders carry a dark side along with their ability to draw the affection and faith of others. As these individuals rely heavily upon their ability to manipulate others, they can often exhibit negative traits associated with Machiavellianism and narcissism. Luckily, traits associated with the dark side of charisma can be negated.
Finding that perfect balance of charisma within an organization’s leadership team may mean that the organization needs to look for the ‘hidden talent’ within their organization and support these individuals in developing behaviors that help them grow in charisma. Likewise, it may be necessary to support highly charismatic workers in developing the interpersonal skills that allow them to manage the dark side of their charismatic personalities.
Just as relying on too much charisma can negatively impact an organization, an individual who relies solely on their charismatic abilities may find that their followers abandon them as the storm wears on. Although charisma tends to draw followers to one in the initial moments of chaos, the uncertainty of a situation often outlasts the charismatic leader’s ability to maintain their followers’ faith.
Is your charisma making you ineffective? If you have historically relied on your charismatic abilities, now is the time to improve your other skills. Research tells us that highly charismatic individuals also see themselves as highly effective. Indeed, their perception of their effectiveness may not mirror reality.
If you suspect that your highly charismatic personality is negatively impacting your workplace performance, there are several things you can do to get yourself back on the right track. According to research presented in “The double-edged sword of leader charisma: Understanding the curvilinear relationship between charismatic personality and leader effectiveness” (2018), higher levels of charisma are less problematic for highly adjusted individuals.
What, you may ask, keeps a charismatic leader well adjusted? The answer is balance. Charismatic individuals who maintain their perspective, are highly self-aware, and feel and exhibit empathy to those around them have the elements necessary to avoid the pitfalls of the dark side of a highly charismatic personality.
To maintain balance between the dark and light sides of charisma, you may wish to:
- Find an objective person to help you assess your effectiveness in the workplace. Seeking a mentor in your field or a professional coach can help you to get the perspective you need to realign your beliefs about your abilities with reality.
- Work on increasing your self-awareness. Highly charismatic people are incredibly enthusiastic and focus on the grand goals before them. However, this tendency may also leave people with high levels of charisma missing the finer details needed to be successful. One way that great thinkers have historically used to remain self-aware, you may think of the Stoic philosophers here, is to keep a daily journal. Spend a few hours each day reflecting on what happened during your day, how you felt about it, and what you might do in the future to improve your response.
- Improve your empathy levels. Unfortunately, highly charismatic individuals are often lacking in empathy. Luckily, there are some simple ways of improving empathy levels. The simplest way to increase your empathy levels is to read fiction. Reading fiction allows you to take on the perspective of another. This simple act of leisure can help you to stretch your empathy muscle.
