The way that Charisma is defined by Riggio is as a constellation of positive traits that ultimately allows one to move and inspire others on an emotional level. Basically, their personality traits make them likable and these “leaders” such as Gandhi, FDR, and even Adolf Hitler have the ability to communicate effectively to an audience. I found Riggio’s discussion on communication most intriguing because I am currently taking a class on communication and how efficient and good communication works. When Riggio talks about the characteristics of leaders, the one that caught my attention was the ability to respond effectively to others through emotional communication. These people can read others, their emotions, and attitudes which give the leaders another tool in communicating with their audience. Leaders can be social chameleons and charisma allows them to be successful in social situations such as schools etc.
The idea of manipulation is also strong, leaders are able to harness their ability to read crowds and then feed off of their energy. Whether the cause is good or bad, this is something that effective leaders utilize and this has been seen throughout history many times. I believe that emotional manipulation is the strongest because when there are masses of people fighting using their emotions, they have nothing left to lose and will follow blindly under a cause. This again can be for better or for worse however it is still a skill that many, if not all leaders have.
Another thing that I found interesting was the charisma and tsav. This introduced the concept of leadership as an object or a symbol. It is described almost like a real-life black panther scenario. In Black Panther, the king or leader takes something called the heart-shaped herb which endows its possessor with superhuman powers. Tsav is very similar in that its possessors are gifted with leadership skills such as charisma. It allows one to dominate a social situation. I think that charisma is really different social skills that develop over time through different situations and blossoms into what we call a gift.
I agree that politicians and leaders have become very adept at reading the emotions of their potential followers and spinning that to their advantage. Because of these leaders skill, I think it is very important for us to recognize when a leader is manipulating, as to avoid recurrences of leaders like Hitler.
I really like your comparison to Black Panther. In the movie, Killmonger also ate the plant, giving him the same abilities as T’challa, but Killmonger used those powers for evil. How T’challa and Killmonger used the power mirrors how Tsav is simply a power/trait/etc that is more or less neutral, and it is up to the person to decide if it will be for evil or good.
I agree with the interesting thought of how leaders need to be able to respond appropriately to the situation and gage how their audience is reacting to what the message is. Leaders can start to lose followers when they no longer respect the needs and desires of the people they are trying to influence so it is very important for a person of power in general to really know their targeted audience. I also think that manipulation can tie into that in the way that the leader, if sensing some weird vibes in the crowd, can begin to manipulate the message into something that will make people more comfortable.
I liked how you used the term “social chameleon” to describe a charismatic leader. That’s exactly what they do–use their followers’ emotions to dictate how they themselves should carry a situation. It’s almost as if a charismatic leader leads by following.
I really am entertained by the idea that good leaders with charisma are able to read crowds and feed off of their energy. I think Barack Obama was able to do this well and that is why he is such an outstanding charismatic leader and one of the best public speakers of all time.
I really like how you used the term social chameleon in your work. The leaders in speeches they learn to quickly adapt and say what the audience wants to hear so that they follow them. I liked the way you implemented that term in your writing.
The idea of a constellation of positive traits intrigues me. It just goes to show that even when us humans attempt to box things by defining and organizing them we often miss the larger picture of the “constellation” and we forget that not just one thing makes a leader a leader.
I also found Tsav to be interesting. It can be used in one of two ways, and how it is used is up to the person who possesses it. While Tsav and charisma are not synonyms of each other, they work very similarly in this regard. Throughout history, we have seen leaders use their charisma in a positive way, like FDR and Ghandi, to create change for the better. We have also seen leaders like Hitler, Rasputin, and bin Laden use their charisma as a tool to manipulate their followers.