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.
When a leader has mystique, there’s a force to them.
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.
Imagine that you have an incredible misconception about what it takes to be a medical doctor. You don’t know that you need to study intensely for eight to ten years. You don’t know that you need to work forty hour shifts. You don’t know that you need to touch dead bodies and examine wounds and talk to people whose relatives are not going to make it. You don’t know about hospital inefficiencies or the difficulties of getting paid by HMOs. You have no idea of the difficulties dealing with insurance companies. As a result of this ignorance, you don’t know what emotions you will feel or not feel as you do this work; and you don’t know what the rewards and costs will be.
