Leadership Charisma Myth: Leaders Need

Leadership Charisma

Myth: Leaders Need Charisma

At certain points in my life I have had a tendency to place certain figures of authority on mental pedestals, esteeming them beyond what their actual qualities and actions warranted. I would not consciously strive to be like these individuals, but would sometimes berate myself for not matching them in certain of their qualities. One of the consistent features exhibited by the individuals I looked up to in this fashion was their charisma, and their ability to sway other individuals (including myself, of course). These individuals also invariably toppled from their pedestals with varying impacts on my view of myself, but another common feature was the realization that their charisma -- one of the features that had so drawn me to them -- was essentially empty. Worse than that, it could be misleading, inspiring confidence in their leadership and authority when there was no substances behind it. These experiences are what has drawn me to the research of debunking the myth that all good leaders require or even benefit from a powerful and winning charisma.

A recent article in the magazine Time explores the concept of charismatic leadership, noting that it was one of the three types of leadership defined and described by sociologist Max Weber (Elliott 2009). It was far from the only type of leadership Weber identified, and this article goes on to note many prominent current and former world leaders that have proven enormously successful and popular despite a lack of charisma -- Germany's Angela Merkel, Great Britain's Tony Blair, and many others are specifically listed. In fact, this article makes the assertion that the insistence on charisma is largely and American trait, and tends to produce superficial rather than meaningful leaders (Elliott 2009).

Though he takes a less negative view of charisma as a leadership quality than does Elliott of Time, Harvard professor Joseph Nye argues that it is not even a quality that fully belongs to the people said or believed to posses it (Nye 2008). He des not suggest that it is not in some ways an individual and personal quality, but asserts that the right situation and the right followers are also necessary to bring this charisma about. It is not so much a feature of a leader, then, as it is a combination of timing and the will of the masses. Charisma must be granted, in other words, and though there are those that have an easier time having the public aid them in this endeavor than others it is not actually a quality that the leaders themselves wholly posses. This means that charisma is not only unnecessary for good leadership, but it cannot really be purposefully achieved (Nye 2008).

Other scholars have gone even further, and claimed that personality traits in general are not any indicator of the type of leader someone might be (Kirkpatrick & Locke 1991). Though there has been a strong correlation shown between the possession of certain key traits and effective leadership, no trait (or combination of traits) guarantees good leadership. More importantly, effective leadership does not really depend upon specific character traits so much as specific choices. The personality traits that can lead to good leadership tend to be those that allow for decisive and informed decisions based on the needs of the group or organization being led; charisma is certainly not among these, and the traits themselves are secondary to the decisions they lead to, regardless (Kirkpatrick & Locke 1991). Charisma no more makes a leader than attractiveness or another physical attribute.

Going back to charisma specifically, some have questioned whether the use of charisma as an enhancement to leadership -- or at least a tool of persuasion used by one in authority -- is even an ethical way to lead. In many ways, charisma leads to the submission of the will of the masses to the will of the leader, which negates the idea of true leadership as a means of moving collectives of people towards a common goal or purpose (Howell & Avolio 1992). Charisma, that is, does not lead to true leadership, but rather is a replacement for it; it is a cheaper and more superficial way to manipulate those being led rather than being required as a leader to inspire real confidence through strong commitment to ideals and a foundation in reasoning. People are swayed by charisma, certainly, but that does not mean that it is a good way to lead even if it were considered an effective one.