Before reading these articles, I thought I knew what charisma meant to me. The thing about charisma is that there is no one definition, but you can almost always tell when someone is or is not charismatic. It\u2019s strange that something as abstract as a feeling can be so integral to making a leader successful or not.<\/p>\n
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In Riggio\u2019s article \u201cCharisma\u201d, he lists some of the world\u2019s leaders who are most commonly referred to as charismatic: Ghandi, Meir, FDR, JFK, Reagan, Hitler, Rasputin, bin Laden. Before reading these articles and talking about charisma in class, I viewed charisma as a quality only positive leader have. But then again, leaders I may think of as positive and in-line with my views might be negative to others and vice versa. This contributes to the ambiguity of charisma as a concept. I found Riggio\u2019s description of charisma as a sort of \u201cconstellation\u201d of qualities that allow people to have influence on others whether by inspiration, emotions or actions especially enlightening (Riggio 2). The idea that charisma is not an independent trait, but a result of many dependent traits makes the charisma all the more confusing but all the more important to find and harness with purpose.<\/p>\n
Riggio\u2019s piece in Psychology Today, \u201cCharisma and Charismatic Leadership\u201d, reveals a shortened, more personal view of what he believes charisma really is. I wanted there to be a simple answer on whether people are born with charisma or if it is a learned trait, but again, after reading these articles I think the ambiguity of charisma is what makes it so unique and important. Obviously, people can be motivated, creative, positive, or moral individuals but charismatic people are all of the above; and usually over and above at each. I think the most important part of this piece is the closing argument made by Riggio. When asked whether leaders are born or made, Riggio references a twin study that concluded about 1\/3 of leaders are born and 2\/3 are made. Riggio describes that if all leaders were born, the money and time put into grooming political, social and religious leaders should be reallocated into finding and identifying leaders already among us.<\/p>\n
As a whole, I agree with what Riggio is saying. I believe it takes a certain, special set of characteristics to be classified as charismatic. Perhaps an even greater concentration of these special characteristics is needed to be classified as a charismatic leader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before reading these articles, I thought I knew what charisma meant to me. The thing about charisma is that there is no one definition, but…<\/p>\n