Charisma, Politics and Elections in 2008: a dangerous liaison

My vacation in Europe took place in midst elections: my home country of Austria voted for the National Assembly, my husband’s home county Bavaria (Germany) for their State Parliament and my 21 month old daughter’s country of birth, the USA, have presidential elections still coming up in November.  The choice people in Austria and Germany made against the establishment could have been based on their disappointing experiences with the major parties over the past years; a trend that could well continue in the USA. However, when watching pre- and post election debates in Austria, Germany and the USA and keeping an eye on reactions and comments of all sorts, another familiar phenomenon pops up: the voter’s crave for charisma and strong personalities. Plain talk, Youth and good looks (see Dr. Joerg Haider, Hans-Christian Strache, Sarah Palin and even Barack Obama) seem to fascinate more than intellectualism or conservatism from  the old ‘wise’ men (see Wilhelm Molterer, Werner Faymann, Alexander Van der Bellen, and John McCain) . People want to be moved again, touched and motivated, even if realistic visions and the truth suffer in the process. This is not to say that it is wrong to look for an inspiring leader, because we naturally thirst for a positive spirit in difficult times. However we need to be wary of the fact that charisma and authenticity can be two different traits in leaders that look very much the same.

Charisma is often used to describe the ability of charming and influencing people. Charismatic personalities easily draw attention and admiration; they project unusual confidence and focus and have superb communication skills. The British professor Richard Wiseman further identified three more attributes of charismatic people: they feel emotions themselves quite strongly and are able to induce them in others; and, they are resistant to the influence of other charismatic people.

So far, so good. But charisma becomes a bit complicated if we enter the arena of leadership. Strong influencing skills paired with the ability to bring on emotions can be dangerous when used by leaders because it makes their followers less critical. And the crux is: charismatic leaders are not only aware of the power they have over people, they can adjust their behaviors to the demand of others, whilst very much pursuing their own agenda. They work on their self-image to present their followers with what they want to see, and in the process use intelligent impression management skills such as:

-  Self-promotion behaviors to present oneself as highly competent regarding certain skills
-  Intimidation behaviors to present oneself as a dangerous and potent person who is able
and willing to challenge others
-  Request behaviors to present oneself as helpless with the purpose of soliciting aid from
others

(Does the above remind us of Sarah Palin, or what?)

The question is how to differentiate between a “good” or authentic charismatic, and a “dangerous” or pseudo-authentic charismatic leader? Well, socialized charismatic leaders do actually take personal risks for the greater good and pursue a common goal, whilst personalized charismatic leaders put their own interests first. Socialized charismatic leaders empower others to promote pro-social and ethical collective action whereas personalized charismatic leaders manipulate others for self-serving purposes. The only problem is that both forms of charismatic leadership result in full commitment to the leader’s vision, exceptionally strong admiration and respect for, and identification of followers with the leader. And because we are all human, all too human, we find it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

To know whether a leader is authentic or not is a tightrope walk for followers, particularly in political leadership.  Here the temptations are higher for leaders to preach water and drink wine and it’s harder for voters to see the real person. All we can do is be aware of the different faces charismatic leaders can have and to look out for signs of impression management and overly personal exhibits. Good luck!

For links, articles and references contact andrea@derlercoaching.com