My father, a wise, blue collar, salt-of-the-earth man, who earned every penny he ever made, said it best: “Watch out for that guy. He’s a politician.” To my father, a politician was the worst thing you could be. Straight shooters say what they mean and do what they say. They live by their word. They don’t try to trick you, turn the tables on you, make promises they have no intention of keeping, say what they know you want to hear, cut you out of the loop, use you, or do an end run around you to reach their objectives. For my father, that was the one big turn-off of working for a large organization: way too much gamesmanship, politics and backstabbing. Who needs it?
Most of us feel the same way.
Can mystique be cultivated deliberately? I believe that it can be amplified, but it must also be genuine. A leader cannot simply begin to dress, talk, or act differently in order to adopt an aura of mystique. That would be cause for mockery. Instead, he or she develops a sense of mystique naturally or organically, in tune with a greater understanding of life’s own mysteries.
Charismatic leaders are people who are both like us and better than us – but they are also, at the same time, a bit mysterious or intriguing. There’s something about them which we can’t fully grasp or ever know. That unknowable quality beckons us to try and learn more. Picture a cat in the backyard who hears a rustling behind a bush. It stops, and waits to hear the sound again. Curious, it pokes behind the bush and becomes more engaged and focused. Intrigue or mystique is a powerful aspect of the charisma taboo, a lure that draws us in.
There’s a rationale to charisma, one that explains why we choose the leaders we do. Let me state flatly: charisma plays a critical role in who we come to see as leaderly. People who are impressive have special qualities. Some of that impressiveness has to do with technical competence, but there is also the impressiveness that comes with good looks, communication skills or aura. A few years ago, research about Fortune 500 CEOs revealed that 85% of them are male, above average in height, and tend to be perceived as good looking.
There’s always been a sense that charisma can be dangerous. Sure, we find charismatic leaders appealing, but can our base instincts to follow someone blindly be trusted? There have been plenty of charismatic leaders in history whose desires have been destructive. Hitler had charisma. So did Charlie Manson. Barbara Walters, after interviewing Manson in prison, claimed that she felt almost compelled to follow the man anywhere ¾ his charisma was that powerful. Undoubtedly, there’s a dark side to charisma worth being wary about.
