Somewhere on the way to becoming a passionate leadership coach aspirant I got convinced of the necessity for a leader to be both authentic and charismatic.
The first question then is, what is authenticity?
Authenticity, in my opinion, is a frank expression of emotions as perceived by your audience...be it positive or negative. It must feel real and open. Authenticity is also about demonstrated congruence of words backed by actions with consistency. As Nick Morgan says, we believe people are authentic when we know what makes them tick - because they have told us and their actions bear it out.
Essentially, when someone bares their heart in front of us, we consider them authentic. Expressiveness therefore is at the heart of it. It's essentially a quick and readily available proxy to authenticity in our short-cut prone world. :)
Now how about charisma?
What is charisma? When do we find someone charismatic? How do we react to someone who is charismatic?
Well charisma manifests itself in different forms. It is the capacity to inspire devotion, follower-ship and enthusiasm.
It manifests itself in several aspects. Firstly, the charismatic individual is aware that all eyes are on him/her. The positive outcome of this is when you have this awareness, you conduct yourself differently. Thus the heightened awareness is the trick to exude charisma. If you have a feeling that people are looking at you, they probably are! :)
Secondly, charisma is also about expressiveness of a wide array of emotions. For instance, consider John Oliver. People watch him for the content yes but also as much for the expressiveness with which he cracks those jokes. While that array of emotions may not be prudent in a core serious corporate set-up, the gist of the matter is that expressiveness counts; and it may be worth your while to make sure you utilize the permissible array of emotions to be able to exude charisma. The opposite is just boredom.
But this is also the most difficult bit for most business leaders who have always been trained to keep their cool despite situations around them going awry. Nonetheless, a range of appropriate emotions is an important step to charisma.
Thirdly, charisma is also about enjoying being in the limelight, being comfortable in, thriving and most importantly enjoying when all eyes are on you. A wink or a nod or a zest to show that you are not taking it all too seriously can go a long way! :)
But both these aspects of ones personality are interwoven by two prominent pillars of communication: 1. Content and 2. Non-verbal component. The latter being the more important one. Why because we are all unconscious experts at reading it correctly.
Every communication has two parallel conversations. When we talk about topics closest to our heart the non-verbal component comes through a split second earlier than the conscious verbal content. It's essentially the non-verbal conversation that will make or break you as a communicator. Understanding it is not something you can leave to chance; especially because if the two components are not aligned people tend to believe the non-verbal without fail..
The first question then is, what is authenticity?
Authenticity, in my opinion, is a frank expression of emotions as perceived by your audience...be it positive or negative. It must feel real and open. Authenticity is also about demonstrated congruence of words backed by actions with consistency. As Nick Morgan says, we believe people are authentic when we know what makes them tick - because they have told us and their actions bear it out.
Essentially, when someone bares their heart in front of us, we consider them authentic. Expressiveness therefore is at the heart of it. It's essentially a quick and readily available proxy to authenticity in our short-cut prone world. :)
Now how about charisma?
What is charisma? When do we find someone charismatic? How do we react to someone who is charismatic?
Well charisma manifests itself in different forms. It is the capacity to inspire devotion, follower-ship and enthusiasm.
It manifests itself in several aspects. Firstly, the charismatic individual is aware that all eyes are on him/her. The positive outcome of this is when you have this awareness, you conduct yourself differently. Thus the heightened awareness is the trick to exude charisma. If you have a feeling that people are looking at you, they probably are! :)
Secondly, charisma is also about expressiveness of a wide array of emotions. For instance, consider John Oliver. People watch him for the content yes but also as much for the expressiveness with which he cracks those jokes. While that array of emotions may not be prudent in a core serious corporate set-up, the gist of the matter is that expressiveness counts; and it may be worth your while to make sure you utilize the permissible array of emotions to be able to exude charisma. The opposite is just boredom.
But this is also the most difficult bit for most business leaders who have always been trained to keep their cool despite situations around them going awry. Nonetheless, a range of appropriate emotions is an important step to charisma.
Thirdly, charisma is also about enjoying being in the limelight, being comfortable in, thriving and most importantly enjoying when all eyes are on you. A wink or a nod or a zest to show that you are not taking it all too seriously can go a long way! :)
But both these aspects of ones personality are interwoven by two prominent pillars of communication: 1. Content and 2. Non-verbal component. The latter being the more important one. Why because we are all unconscious experts at reading it correctly.
Every communication has two parallel conversations. When we talk about topics closest to our heart the non-verbal component comes through a split second earlier than the conscious verbal content. It's essentially the non-verbal conversation that will make or break you as a communicator. Understanding it is not something you can leave to chance; especially because if the two components are not aligned people tend to believe the non-verbal without fail..
Very interesting. I agree that non-verbal cues are the key to a successful communication. That is why many corporates insist on a face to face interview over mediums such as skype over telephone interviews.
ReplyDeleteKeep shattering more keys :)