Narcissistics Of A Charismatic Leader

Charismatic is defined as exercising a compelling charm that inspires devotion in others. It is a very powerful characteristic to have. What really matters is how a charismatic person uses that power. Charismatic people walk the fine line of charm and manipulation. Jim Jones, leader of the People’s Temple, will forever be remembered as someone who turned his charm into manipulation and orchestrated one of America’s largest mass suicides. David M. Matthews of CNN says, “The key to understanding the tragedy that was Jonestown lies in the oratory skills of the People’s Temple founder, Jim Jones.” The tragedy of the People’s Temple displays how easily people let others into their minds not knowing what they will do once inside.

Ehrhart, M. G., & Klein, K. J. (2001) “Predicting Followers’ Preferences for Charismatic Leadership: The Influence of Follower Values and Personality.” The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 12, 155–79.

Steve Jobs was a man that was creative, he had a vision, and he was a leader. His creations led him to begin one of the world’s most successful computer companies in the world, which took the technological industry by storm. The leadership quality that Steve Jobs exhibits more than any is charismatic leadership. The idea of charismatic leadership can be traced to Max Weber (1947), who believed authority was based on specialty characteristics, heroism and unique personality of an individual person. All charismatic leaders have at least four characteristics which

Charismatic leadership is a passionate, self-confident leader whose character and actions affect people to behave in certain ways. High self-monitors might be more effective leaders because they can easily adjust their behavior to a different situation versus a charismatic or self-confident leader that behave in an assured way.

A charismatic leader will ensure to pay attention to every person making that person feel important. At this time they are scanning the individuals to pick up their moods and their concerns. At this time the charismatic leader will be able to improve their actions and words to suit the situation.

The Productive Narcissist: the Promise and Peril of Visionary Leadership by Michael Maccoby is a claiming of narcissism as a positive attribute. Maccoby, as a psychologist and business expert, has used this book to show the significance a narcissist can have on a company and the potential success of the company. This nonfiction book narrows the scope of interest concerning the effectiveness of visionaries with these personality qualities.

Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (2002). Introduction to, and overview of, transformational and charismatic leadership. In B. J. Avolio & F. J. Yammarino (Eds.), Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead (pp. xvii–xxiii). Oxford, UK: Elsevier

Charismatic leaders are able to inspire emotion and passion in their followers by being optimistic and enthusiastic. Without passionate and emotional employees, an organization will be crippled and unable to face

A historical example that demonstrates Charismatic Authority is Adolf Hitler. In the eyes of Germans, Hitler was viewed as the savior of the country. This was because Hitler wanted to restore Germany to the

Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2011). Can Charisma Be Taught? Tests of Two Interventions. Academy Of Management Learning & Education, 10(3), 374-396. Antonakis et al starts off research by posing a question. “Can leadership, and in particular charisma, be taught? The authors set out to prove in fact that training can training managers a specific set of charismatic leadership tactics not only improves their charisma, but their effectiveness as leaders. Charismatic leadership is defined as by Antonakis et al as being a sub element of transformational leadership. In the first study researchers assigned 34 middle managers from a Swiss company into two groups randomly. One group received training in charisma and the others received no training. The group receiving training were trained in principles on charismatic leadership. In the second study focused on 41 MBA students enrolled in a leadership course at a Swiss public university monitor charismatic leadership. The students were videotaped giving a 4 minute speech addressing problems within the company while also giving a plan of action to staff. After, speech was done, each participant received training in charismatic leadership and was asked to deliver the same speech 6 weeks later by videotape. Results reveal that improvement and effectiveness as a leader were made in both research groups. This study concluded that feedback is important to the growth and development of leaders and must be provided to

Transformational leadership are classified into four components which are pointed out by Bass (1990, p. 28), ‘charisma, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration’. Apart from these basic roles, charisma leadership, a collection of personal characteristics, has its own role of literature since it has similarity with transformational leadership and they are contribution to each other (Bertocci, 2009, p. 43; Judge & Piccolo, 2004, p. 755). Leaders’ behaviour reflects them being role models for their followers. Followers respect, admire and trust their leaders who have charismatic effect on their followers to an extremely high grade are willing to take risks

Bryman, A., 1993, ‘Charismatic leadership in business organisations: some neglected issues’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 289-304.

Many great leaders have one thing in common and that is charisma. Charismatic leaders are those that have the capability to inspire and encourage people to do more than they would normally do, despite obstacles and personal sacrifice. (Daft, R.L, pg. 364) Charisma is what provokes energy and commitment out of its followers. These leaders possess the power to motivate their followers to do almost anything. They create an atmosphere of change and express an ideal vision of a better future. The most common characteristics of the charismatic leader involve maturity, communication, humility, and inspiration. These unique qualities impact their followers and conduct themselves in such a way that allows for remarkable results. Then

Weber’s second type of influence is charismatic authority. Charismatic authority is characterized by a leader with rare personal features that attract others to them. Charismatic leaders have qualities that are powerful and challenging

Researchers have proposed several characteristics of leaders described as ‘charismatic’. The widely accepted characteristics of charismatic leaders are (Bryman et al., 2011, p. 90-91):