How to be a Charismatic Leader What do Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Charles Manson and David Kouresh all have in common? By definition, they were all charismatic leaders. Charisma is the result of specific behaviors on the part of the leaders, which leads followers to view them as charismatic. In essence, charismatic leaders have a powerful message, an arousing personality style and the needed interpersonal skills to make them a major force in effecting change. This paper will research the practice of charismatic leadership in the workplace. Followers generally label their Charismatic leaders as one or more of the following types: o Omnipotent – a nurturer acting as a parent that will nurture and guide followers.
o Mystical – someone in touch with higher truths and knows the way and the answers. o Heroic – someone who can save the day. o Value driven – someone who is pure and empowering. Murphy 2 Charismatic leaders instill the following beliefs in their supporters: o Trust in the correctness of the leader’s believes. o Affection for the leader – which makes them comply with the leader willingly.
o A feeling of an emotional involvement in the mission they are led to do. Charismatic leaders have a tendency to look for the good in people and tend to be labeled as ‘people builders’. They evoke a belief in a mission that followers have a strong personal belief in, thus providing them with a sense of purpose – something that everyone needs. Charismatic managers also evoke a belief in their personnel, when people know that you believe in them, they can achieve greatness. Charismatic leaders look for employee strengths and work around their weaknesses. It is not that they overlook weaknesses, charismatic leaders will not neglect unacceptable behaviors, however, they will concentrate on nurturing and building employee strengths.
The Essay on Theories On Qualities Of Leaders And Followers
There appears to be a particular trend in research on leadership. Most of it subsumes vision within charisma. Some scholars even suggest that it is the vision that leads to the attribution of charisma to the leaders in the first place. However, we think that charisma and vision are two distinct concepts and as such a leader may be charismatic but not visionary, or visionary but not charismatic, ...
They also recognize accomplishment. Positive reinforcement in the form of recognition helps employees to know that the work they put forth is important and noticed. Managers that practice charismatic leadership must recognize their personal responsibility as well. Abuse of the power that comes with this particular type of leadership can come about easily.
History reveals that Adolph Hitler, David Kouresh, Charles Manson lead followers with a strong belief that was terribly immoral and unethical.
