Charismatic Leadership: The Skills You Can Learn to Motivate High Performance in Others
Kevin Murray
KoganPage (February 2020)

Charisma without integrity and substance attracts attention and then contempt

Originally, charisma was believed to be a divine gift that only a few humans received. “Let your light so shine before others….” More recently, especially in the business world, certain leaders seem to have a commanding presence. Some come by it naturally but most often develop it in ways and to an extent almost anyone else can.

Long ago Clara Bow was promoted as the “it girl” because she had “a certain something” that attracted attention to her in a series of film roles. Women as well as men can  become charismatic or at least more attractive. More recently, Cary Grant was widely regarded as the most charismatic film actor. Whenever someone told him they wanted to be Cary Grant, his stock reply was “So do I.” Yes, he played charismatic characters but in private life, he was anything but.

To repeat, almost anyone can become charismatic or at least more attractive. How?

In his latest and, in my opinion, his most valuable book…thus far, Kevin Murray recommends a set of skills that “you can learn to motivate high performance in others,” skills that will also motivate you to elevate your own performance. Briefly:

1. Deliver honesty and INTEGRITY, consistently;
2. Have and live a personal set of VALUES;
3. Be visibly COMMITTED;
4. Be SELF-AWARE;
5. Have HUMILITY.

Each of these requires specific actions. “Talking the talk” is worthless if you’re not “walking the walk.” Keep in mind the results of several dozen major research studies that measured the impact of effective communication.  The specific percentages vary but this is the key revelations concerning face-to-face interaction: 80-85% of the impact is determined by tone of voice and body language; only 15-20% of impact is determined by what is said.

These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Murray’s coverage:

o Skills of charismatic leadership (Pages 11-20)
o Personal power (13-15 and 51-77)
o Authenticity (21-49)
o Conviction and values to prosecute an agenda (31-37)
o (32-33)

o Visible and committed leadership (38-41)
o Leadership mindset (56-59)
o Taking control of body language (74-077)
o How you make people feel determines how they will perform (79-107)
o Engaging with people (85-89)

o Empathic listening (90-95)
o Giving feedback to employees (99-102 and 147-148)
o Drive (109-169)
o Develop and articulate a compelling cause (115-120)
o Empowering employees (129-132)

o Persuasiveness (137-169)
o How charismatic leaders connect and persuade (139-142)
o Connecting with an audience (143-146)
o Persuasive conversations that enable change (147-153)
o Telling stories that can change everything (160-165)

o Chemistry of charisma: changing behaviour (173-184)
o Why charisma is essential in a digital world (185-191)
o Dark side of charisma (192-202)
o How to be the opposite of charismatic (196-202)
o Shaping your charisma (203-218)

Long ago, I gave up trying to motivate other people and decided to concentrate on activating their self-motivation and then doing all I could to support their efforts to improve. Presumably Kevin Murray agrees with me. He is determined (driven?) to help as many people as possible to accelerate their personal growth and professional development at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. He is convinced — and I agree — that, no matter what their size and nature may be, all organizations need effective leaders.

I think his latest book is his most valuable — thus far — because it will have the widest and deepest impact. That said, it remains for each person who reads Charismatic Leadership to select from the abundance of material what is most relevant to their own needs, then put it to work immediately. I commend all readers who are driven by a compelling vision. Just keep in mind this comment by Thomas Edison: “Vision without execution is hallucination.”