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A Brief Look At Charismatic Leadership
The purpose of this short article is to give you a bite-sized insight into charismatic leadership. So what is charismatic leadership?
It’s the name given to a particular leadership style - in other words, it describes the behaviour of a certain category of leaders.
The term “charismatic leadership” draws on the word “charisma”, which comes from the Greek language and means “gift”.
Thus, charismatic leadership relies on a leader’s personality gifts to influence others and shape their future. Such gifts can include great wisdom or insight, heroism, extraordinary certainty about the future and perhaps even the claim of a direct link to God.
However, charismatic leadership demands more than just an exceptional personality.
Followers & Charismatic Leadership
You see, those who follow the charismatic leader must also project an image of specialness and authority on to him and give him power over them.
Therefore charismatic leadership relies on the twin effect of a leader’s personality and a strong belief by followers that this special person is the one to lead them in their hour of need.
This is why the sociologist Max Weber saw charismatic leadership as a relationship between leader and followers.
Charismatic Leadership & The Moral Dimension
In Weber’s view, charismatic leadership had no moral dimension – it could be a force for good or evil.
Using his definition, the only question is: do the followers grant authority to the leader based on their view of his or her special gifts? If the answer is yes, this is charismatic leadership.
So although this may horrify many, in Weber’s eyes, Adolf Hitler was as much a charismatic leader as Jesus Christ.
Dangers of Charismatic Leadership
Charismatic leadership can be effective in the sense that it can cause swift change. However it has dangers.
- It can be used for evil ends.
- It can create dependency among followers – causing them to take less responsibility for themselves.
- It can encourage a belief in the leader’s infallibility to the point where the leader is allowed to make foolish decisions.
- And it can take followers down a blind alley if the seemingly charismatic leader proves to have more style than substance.
Charismatic Leadership, Instability & Personality Cults
Despite these dangers, charismatic leadership can be unstable and short lived.
This is because charismatic leaders can only stay in power while their followers continue to believe in their specialness. If they disappoint their followers in some way, perhaps because they reveal previously hidden flaws or fail to deliver, this belief can fade – draining charismatic leaders of their authority.
To guard against this risk, charismatic leadership may involve a cult of personality to stop followers realising that their leader is less impressive than they think.
The author of this blog is James Scouller, an executive coach. His book, The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your Leadership Presence, Knowhow and Skill, was published by Management Books 2000 in May 2011. You can learn more about it at www.three-levels-of-leadership.com. If you want to see its reviews, click here: leadership book reviews. If you want to know where to buy it, click HERE.
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