Charismatic BusinessBalls

Here's a great resource, written by Nikki Owens, on charisma. According to Owens, charismatic people have the 5 following traits:

1. High Self-Esteem and comfortable in their own skin. This allows individuals to be authentic. It is contextual. Elvis Presley was charistmatic on stage, but shy in front of reporters.
2. Driving Force whereby individuals live their life according to their values, which creates dynamism and enthusiasm. This is also contextual. Margaret Thacther had a strong drive as a politician  but was more relaxed in the home.
3. Sensory Awareness which allows charismatics to tap into their own feelings and those of others. This makes them very expressive.
4. Vision of what they want, which creates a strong energy of intent.
5. High Energy which intoxicates others and builds energy within them.

Remember my previous post on charisma? This builds upon that one and delves into more of the internal component. The one change I would make to Owen's summary is replacing "high self-esteem" with "high confidence" because I don't consider self-esteem to be as contextual as confidence.

A key take-away from the article is that charisma is a combination of external charming gestures and internal character qualities. This, seemingly then, contradicts Cabane's assertion that charisma is a learned behavior.

Well, most of these internal qualities can be learned as well (except maybe high energy). However, some personality types may naturally be more suited to learning charisma or developing higher levels of charisma.

The importance here is that of cultivating an internal ecosystem of charisma traits, which will then manifest itself in external behaviors. Remember, method-acting is more powerful than simply learning external behaviors and body language.

We can use our conscious minds to program our unconscious, which will then communicate non-verbally with the world.

I'll soon write up my own definition of charisma, so look forward to that!

Quick actions steps:
1. To increase your self-esteem, sit down and list 30 things that are great about you. 30 may sound like a stretch, but that is the point. My first list contained 50 items.
2. To increase sensory awareness (i.e. presence), spend 20 minutes a day doing yoga or meditation.

Exude Charisma

Here's a fantastic video on building Charisma, which is very possible. It's a learned behavior, not an innate quality that people are born with.

According to Fox, there are 3 main pillars in charisma. These are presence, power, and warmth. She then goes on to explain how to build these three pillars. I summarize below, but watch the video as it is brimming with value.

1. Presence - Being in the moment and being authentic. Become present by bringing your attention to the physical sensation in your toes. Also, focus on the different colors in a person's eyes when you are speaking with them. Don't overdo it.

2. Power - Exhibited mostly through body language. The main way to exude power is to take up physical space.

3. Warmth - Exhibited mostly through the muscles in the face, particularly the eyes. To convey warmth, simply imagine someone you have great affection for when you are speaking to people. Your voice will also play a role in warmth.

Fox is the author of a book called The Charisma Myth, which is on my reading list.