For some time I’ve been intrigued with the concepts of charismatic leadership and emotionally intelligent leadership. I’ve often wondered if they are “two sides of the same coin” or are they “different”.
So first things first, let’s look at the definitions.
According to Deiric McCann, co-author of the book Leadership Charisma, leadership charisma is that particular blend of behaviors, all of which can be developed, that enables leaders to:
- Create and maintain a work environment where people are emotionally and intellectually committed to the organization’s goals.
- Instill in their people an energetic and positive attitude that inspires them to do their very best for the organization.
- Create a common sense of purpose where people are more inclined to invest extra energy and even some of their own time in their work.
Simply put, charisma is the combination of the impact of a wide variety of behaviors that people observe practiced, consciously or unconsciously, by those they deem charismatic. Ask ten people to explain why they find someone charismatic and you’ll probably get ten different answers. Some will talk about the person’s ability to speak in an inspiring manner, others will describe that person’s genuine friendliness, and still others will talk about the interest that person shows in other people’s well-being.
Why so many different answers? Charisma is not an attribute, but a perception. It’s the perception one person ascribes to another whom they find charismatic. No one can be charismatic on their own. It takes two people – one to observe what they describe as charisma and another to behave in a manner that the observer perceives as being charismatic. Charisma is truly like beauty, it’s “in the eye of the beholder”. If I find you charismatic then, for me at least, you are. Charisma is that particular term applied when someone likes the combination of how we behave, the actions we take, the face we present to the world, the words we use, our body language, and myriad other things. All of these contribute to a greater or lesser degree to one’s perceived charisma.
David R. Smith in his book The Emotionally Intelligent Leader describes Emotional Intelligence as “ … a set of skills that define how effectively we perceive, understand, express reason with, and manage our own emotions and the emotions of others.” Just like charisma, emotional intelligence is a perception one person ascribes to another and, just like charisma, emotional intelligence can be learned and improved over time.
There are many different models for emotional intelligence. Daniel Goleman who published his well-known book Emotional Intelligence in 1995 identified four elements:
- Self-Awareness (know your emotions),
- Social Awareness (recognize and understand other people’s emotions),
- Self-Management (manage your emotions), and
- Relationship Management (manage other’s emotions).
Dr. Ben Palmer’s Genos model is similar, but it has six elements:
- Self-Awareness (aware of the way you feel and the impact it can have on decisions, behavior, and performance),
- Awareness of Others (perceiving, understanding, and acknowledging the way others feel),
- Authenticity (opening and effectively expressing yourself, honoring commitments, and encouraging this behavior in others),
- Emotional Reasoning (using the information in feeling from yourself and others when decision-making),
- Self-Management (managing your own mood and emotions, time and behavior, and continuously improving yourself), and
- Positive Influence (positively influencing the way others feel through problem solving, feedback, and recognizing and supporting others’ work).
Research has consistently shown an organization’s success to be linked to employee engagement; the more engaged the employees, the more productive and profitable the organization. Further, countless research has shown that both charismatic and emotionally intelligent leaders foster engagement with their employees.
But, back to my question … are Charismatic and Emotionally Intelligent leaders “two sides of the same coin” or are they “different”?
At the risk of patting myself on the back, I spent hours researching this question (see some of the references below) and the majority of the studies I found typically show only a “casual” link between being a Charismatic Leader and being an Emotionally Intelligent Leader. Bottom line – they are different but both are extremely important to any individual’s or organization’s success.
My take-away is that Charisma is all about “what” leaders do; i.e., they listen to others, they communicate effectively, they use appropriate body language, etc. and Emotional Intelligence is all about “how” leaders relate to people; i.e., their self-awareness, their awareness of others, their authenticity, etc.
In closing, in a recent SmartBrief article Jack Morgan argued, “Great leaders inspire people and attract talent and bad leaders drive employees away and demoralize those who stay. It’s impossible to only hire superstar leaders; organizations also need to learn how to develop people internally to create great leaders.”
We would be delighted to help you develop your future leaders through the use of both our core competency and perception assessments. Our Wiley 360o CheckPoint survey comes with its separate Leadership Charisma report and our Genos Emotional Intelligence reports are available in either Self, 180o, or 360o formats.
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References:
- Does Emotional Intelligence predict Charisma in the Leaders
- Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Charismatic Leadership among Postgraduates in Malaysia: PLS-SEM Analysis – published at the 14th International Conference on Innovation & Management – Conference Paper – July 2019
- Charismatic Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and Values in Organizations
- Measuring Personal Charisma, Emotional Intelligence and Savoir-Faire by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. in Psychology Today, March 5, 2011