A limit to charisma.

• Author: HORTON, THOMAS R.
• Position: Executive recruitment - Brief Article

There is, by definition, a great attraction to the charismatic job candidate. Therein lies risk.

CHARISMA: n. a magical quality that arouses loyalty of large numbers of people; a magnetic personal appeal. When coupled with competence, it can bestow star quality on a manager and help speed that person's ascension to the top.

Yet charisma is in the eye of the beholder (and possibly the ear as well), for the charm that proves subtly hypnotic to one person may seem excessive to another. So the truly charismatic person is sensitive to how others react and knows how to adjust accordingly.

Is charisma essential to leadership? Like humor, leadership defies dissection yet continues to intrigue. In the thousands of writings about this elusive quality, its components are typically identified as integrity; strategic focus, decisiveness, team-building skills, and tenacity. Correctly, few observers claim charisma as an essential ingredient. I am certain that leaders need credibility far more than they need charm.

Yet there is, by definition, a great attraction to the charismatic job candidate. After all, optimism is communicable, and faith in the future can become contagious. So why not hold out for the person who wields some of that "old black magic"? The risk lies in our mistaking form for substance. A silver tongue and laser-like eye contact can beguile the most sophisticated audience and, certainly, the members of an exhausted search committee.

A few years ago a large and prestigious (sadly, more prestigious then than now) corporation hired as chief executive just such a person. His resume boasted impressive cross-industry experience and gold-plated references. From the very beginning a romance began to bloom. "How fortunate can we be, how blessed we are," thought the nonexecutive chairman, "to have secured such a paragon, a true visionary?" Soon the two were each other's very best new friend, as were their spouses. "What a new world of opportunity for our organization' continued the chairman's musings. "We shall make no small plans!"

Indeed, no small plans were made. Instead, the board soon bought into a grandiose vision that sunk of its own weight, having not taken into account a serious mismatch between over-ambitious goals and available capabilities. Its utter failure in implementation came as no surprise to first-line managers who, because of the nature of their jobs, live in everyday reality. In contrast, the directors were dreaming along...