For generations, the representation of the charisma concept has been characterized by leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, John F Kennedy, or more recently Barrack Obama. Although these leaders engaged in completely different things in their life to be recognized as charismatic, they were credited with common skills such as confidence, physical stamina and interpersonal skills which created very special relationship with their followers.
The concept of charisma was created in the early 1920s by Max Weber. It was viewed as a "Divine gift" for a long time before additional scientific explanations were attributed to it in the mid1970s.
The concept of charisma increasingly figures in our daily life, as part of political communication, campaigns and as a tool of seduction. Indeed, most people are confronted by this concept without really being able to measure, define or even recognize it. Therefore, we will, in the first part of this paper, observe the confrontation of various theories which have been published since that of Weber.
Secondly, through the analysis of various speeches made by well known charismatic people, in terms of communication strategies and neuro-linguistic programs, we will identify the most common techniques implemented. Also, we are going to observe the importance of other forms of power.
Finally, the conclusion will be based on the author's opinion.
The word charisma (origins from the Greek word χάρισμα (kharisma), "gift" or "divine favor," from kharizesthai, "to favor," from kharis, "favor") refers to a rare trait found in certain human personalities usually including extreme charm and a 'magnetic' quality of personality and/or appearance along with innate and powerfully sophisticated personal communicability and persuasiveness.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charisma)
[...] We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field. [...]
[...] Bass quotes Max Weber's view of charisma which has five elements (source: Leadership, Philip Sadler p 49) A person with extraordinary gifts A crisis A radical solution to the crisis Followers attracted to the exceptional person believing that they are linked through him/ her to transcendental powers. Validation of the person's gifts and transcendence in repeated experiences of success. Bass concentrated his study on the concept of “extraordinary gift” and “transcendent powers”, where he comments that charisma is based on the “combination of emotional expressiveness, self confidence, self determination, and freedom from internal conflict; the leaders are radical, unconventional, risk taking, visionary, entrepreneurial and exemplary.” (Source: Leadership, Philip Sadler p 49) Bass has also created a questionnaire instrument call the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). [...]
[...] The answer to the question: Are we born with charisma or can we learn it? If we consider charisma as it has been defined and created to identify leaders such as Nelson Mandela, General Gaulle, Hitler or John F Kennedy, as a gift which cannot be learnt, even though communication techniques as we have analyzed above, it may contribute to optimize the public attention. Indeed, these well known leaders have been recognized as charismatic not only for their ability to talk and unify people towards [...]
[...] The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space. Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to flounder in the backwash of the coming age of space. [...]
[...] I know how imperfect our Ahimsa is and how far away we are still from the ideal, but in Ahimsa there is no final failure or defeat. I have faith, therefore, that if, in spite of our shortcomings, the big thing does happen, it will be because God wanted to help us by crowning with success our silent, unremitting Sadhana for the last twenty-two years. I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than ours. [...]
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