charismatic leader

What is a Charismatic Leader?

Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation is an energetic, persuasive, and optimistic leader who does her absolute best while surrounded by Negative Nellys and ungrateful townsfolk. But it’s her charm that wins the day, and conversely, helps others win even when they don’t see it for themselves.

This is very much the Charismatic leader. As a leader in this style, you are influential, dynamic, confident, and persuasive. You make those around you believe that they can achieve any goal or milestone, even in the face of adversity. You achieve this by displaying a positive attitude, showing empathy, telling stories, using humor, reading people, and working a room.

You command loyalty and devotion by awakening an emotional response in followers that inspires them to enthusiastically lend obedience, commitment and devotion to you and the goals you desire. You’re a visionary. You look beyond the big picture to see what others are unable to see beyond the horizon. That’s your mojo.

Forceful opinions may fall from your mouth, but you are also sensitive to the emotions, ambitions, and personal experiences that others have. Unlike Autocratic leaders, you understand that you need to change your approach depending on the person. But in the end, it’s about winning others over to your way of seeing things and your vision.

This style of leadership focuses on inspiring and influencing others. Compared to all the others styles of leadership, this relies most on the personality of the leader. So make sure you’re on top of your game! Or else they’ll push you out of office. And we know that would make Leslie very sad…like there were no waffles left.

Pros

  • Gives your team members different ways to look at things

  • Inspires everyone to work together towards one common cause

  • Brings high levels of clarity for the employees when it comes to roles and organizational objectives

  • Being part of something “bigger” than yourself can accelerate productivity and engagement among the members

  • Decreases turnover rates in the organization

  • Prioritizes the learning process - not just following blindly

  • Makes individuals identify more strongly with their team, which leads to improved job satisfaction and performance

  • Improved sense of belonging due to the connections charismatic leader forms with others

Cons

  • Dependent on the energy of the leader - this can cause burnout for the leader and indifference for the team

  • Makes succession challenging, as once the leader leaves, so does the wellspring of inspiration and motivation

  • Leaders can overestimate themselves and their own importance. This can lead to poor choices - unethical, illegal, etc.

  • If the vision isn’t on point or off target, it can cause great damage

  • Team members may be transfixed into blindly following the leaders, with no challenges to check in with and balance things

  • Can change the value system of the team members if they see the leader as an infallible guru. They may do things they never would have done in the past

  • Can be used for selfish or self-serving needs

elevating your leadership

This style of leadership can be powerful and transformative, but it can also open up pitfalls for the leader, team, and organization if care isn’t taken.

Here are a few ways you can ensure that your Charismatic leadership doesn’t slide backwards:

  • Become an active listener - it can be easy to slip into a “telling” way of leading, or believing your own hype. Ask questions of your staff and listen

  • Control your words and emotions - these are your bread and butter of this style of leadership. Self-containment and strong communication are key to exuding your energy and message

  • Carry empathy with your power - it’s easy to proselytize others to your cause, but it needs balancing with compassion and warmth

  • Be careful not to let personality overtake processes - it’s easy to slip into guru mode and arrogance. Business practices, objectivity and other opinions will help counter this

  • Be open to feedback - honest feedback that is. It’s easy for this style of leadership to create a bunch of “yes men”. Meet regularly with staff to get any feedback that will help you manage yourself and others

  • Be willing to help out - even if it’s small tasks, show your team that you’re willing to jump in, and to be humble

It’s easy to slip into a cult of personality-type state, where you start to believe your own press, but hopefully you can follow some of these tips to make sure that your feet are planeted firmly in the ground.

Like any style of leadership, self-leadership is the key to powerful and impactful leading of others. Making sure that you’re aligned to your own values, in touch with self-awareness and open to new ideas and ways of doing things will open many doors for you.

And of course, if you need support, guidance, mentorship, or just a space to brainstorm to help build your leadership acumen, you can find out how to work with me by smashing the button below. I offer many ways to help you create the leadership you desire to make the impact you know you can make in your life.

Or, you can join THE SPARK: IGNITING NEXT LEVEL LEADERSHIP - a community of all levels of leadership - where you will get tools, peer support and techniques that you can use to shift your thinking and abilities so that you can help grow yourself, your team(s) and your business. It’s for folks like you - fired up, future-forward, and ferocious in your desire to be a stronger and more powerful leader. Click below to join for FREE!