“I have a dream”. Everyone has in his head Martin Luther King chanting his incredible speech which still causes chills, tears or a great silence from the first words spoken. Others have in mind the proud bearing of Nelson Mandela. In another register, the phenomenal conquests of Alexander, son of Olympias and King Philip II of Macedonia or those of the Emperor from Corsica. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu aka mother Teresa remains a cap. Another saint, Joan of Arc, a heroine. The common point of these characters, to which we can add their favorite political, musical, artistic – or even unknown – personalities: they are charismatic. Embodied. De tu querida presence. Commander Che Guevara wrote Carlos Puebla. We also talk about leadership. “A charismatic leader is someone you want to follow. You don’t call yourself a charismatic manager, but you are recognized as such”, underlines Clément Bergon, co-author of Good manager, how to (with Jérôme Hoarau, Diateino, 2023). But it is an art that can be learned.
“Charisma comes from the ancient Greek “kharis” which means “that which shines”, “that which delights” or “grace”, which gave “kharisma” – “a favor which is granted without asking anything in return”” , specifies the trainer of coaches. It is not Gandhi who wants. However, Clément Bergon puts forward two prerequisites: on the one hand, natural charisma exists, but it is not everything. On the other hand, to be perceived as charismatic, you need a receiver… who is sensitive to it. Some charismatic leaders have negative goals. Master Yoda or Darth Vader? Both went through Jedi training. The manager who wants to perform in this area can. To do this, he must be the embodiment of a “why”, a “vision” that leads to confidence. According to the work of Amy JC Cuddy, Susan Fiske (Princeton) and Peter Glick (Lawrence), two matrices play a major role in leadership: human warmth and perceived competence (“Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception : The stereotype content model and the BIAS map”, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology No. 40, 2008). Neither of these virtues, and it is guaranteed contempt: “Not only does our manager not know how to do much, but he is also unsympathetic”. The case of the warm but felt incompetent chef induces pity. The cold but capable apprentice Caudillo provokes jealousy: “He annoys me Mr. Know-it-all”.
Human warmth and competence
Only a strong human warmth associated with a strong competence generates admiration towards the Guide. It works. “Human warmth could be summed up by an attitude where your interlocutors feel that you listen to them fully and that you are sincerely interested in their opinion, their proposals, their projects and their well-being”, indicates the expert. Learn to listen, first rule. “What is the real role of the manager? Bingo! Make his team grow. Therefore, a manager will appear competent if his collaborators have the feeling of progressing in contact with him”. Second rule. “The perceived competence of the manager will go through a reassuring, motivating and coherent posture; a mastery of the art of support and delegation”. Motivating also means finding meaning in a mission or a company and using it to convince and seduce.
Self-confidence
Third rule: self-confidence. It corresponds to our perception of being able to act appropriately and succeed in a situation. “We could model it in the form of a subtraction: Self-confidence = (What I think I can do) – (What I perceive I have to do)”, analyzes Clément Bergon. Two levers can improve it: increase the level of competence in the required field and reduce the perception of the difficulty of what must be achieved. “This involves finding solutions in order to become concretely aware of what I have to do”. With an additional element for the manager: “your own ability to trust your team, because trust breeds trust (remember the Pygmalion effect)”. Researcher Alex Sandy Pentland (MIT Connection Science) has created indicators to capture the level of charisma: everyone can progress. This is possible in all professions. But does everyone really have a vocation or interest in attracting crowds?