Charismatic Leadership
Charisma is a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men. Charismatic Leader gathers followers, through dint of personality and charm. Understand the meaning and concept of Charismatic Leadership and the qualities of a charismatic leader. Gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of using charismatic leadership. Finally, explore the difference between charismatic and transformational leadership.
What is the definition of Charismatic Leadership?
“Charisma is a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men, and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically, exceptional powers or qualities." “Charismatic Leadership is "resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him".
– Max Weber
Qualities of a Charismatic Leader:
The Charismatic Leader gathers followers, through dint of personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority. Some prominent qualities of a charismatic leader are as follows:
- Vision.
- Speech.
- High Principles.
- Emotional Sensitivity.
- Personality.
- Charisma.
Every leadership style has its advantages and disadvantages when compared to other leadership styles. Let’s understand the advantages and disadvantages of charismatic leadership.
Advantages Of Charismatic Leadership:
- Ability to affect change.
- Energetic and driving leader.
- Sensitivity to people's emotions.
- Supportive environment.
- Vision and Articulation.
Disadvantages of Charismatic Leadership:
- Over-Reliance on Leader.
- Lack of Clarity.
- Failure of Vision.
- Misarticulating Goals.
- Poor Management.
- Autonomy.
- Broken Trust.
Now let us compare the charismatic leadership style, with the transformational leadership style.
Charismatic Vs. Transformational Leader:
A charismatic leader influences the followers with the dint of his personality and charm whereas a Transformational Leader inspires change, through his vision & passion to get things done.
Charismatic Leader is the “head of the show” whereas Transformational Leader is open to followers’ input and participation.
In the case of charismatic leadership, Vision fulfillment happens by stimulating followers to the leader’s vision and in contrast, under transformational leadership, Vision fulfillment is inclusive of both follower and leader's vision.
Charismatic leaders are most likely to emerge in crisis situations whereas it has been generally observed that transformational leaders, can emerge at different levels of the organization. From a style standpoint, charismatic leadership behavior is aimed at leader driven goals and, the focus is to promote feelings of obedience and dependency in followers. In the case of transformational leadership, the behavior is aimed at encouraging teamwork and commitment to the shared goals.
Related Links
You May Also Like
-
“Level 5 Leadership”, this term was coined by Jim Collins in his book “Good to Great” and it is all about achieving "Greatness" as a leader. This article will explain what we mean by Level 5 Leadership and what the characteristics of a Level 5 leader are. What it takes to achieve greatness as a leader, and what are the steps and strategies that one can use to move up to this top level of leadership.
-
This style is characterized by leaders making decisions for others and expecting followers to follow instructions. The directive leader is adept at giving instructions, setting expectations, and establishing timelines and performance standards. However, it is possible for the same leaders to display both directive and supportive behavior as per the demands of the situation.
-
Narrative leadership is interpreted as the leader who aspires to construct leadership by telling stories. Leadership is a task of persuasion, of winning people’s minds and hearts. Storytelling is thus inherently suited for the task of leadership. Learn about the narrative leadership style and how to use this style to inspire and motivate followers or to manage change.
-
Laissez-faire is a style of leadership that affords the group members a great deal of independence. Tasks are delegated to the group members and they are responsible to see the project through to fruition. Research has shown that this style of leadership leads to the lowest levels of productivity. This article explains this style and covers the implications of having a hands-off approach and the situations where this style could be effective.
-
A good leadership style is something that every effective leader must have in order to succeed, but identifying what that entails or does not entails might be difficult to understand. Most of the research on leadership focuses on the exemplary, best practices, and positive attributes of effective and successful leaders. This article talks about a new approach to learn leadership using lessons from bad leadership. That is the lessons to be learned by examining leaders who have not effectively exercised their power, authority, or influence.
-
Authentic leadership is an approach to leadership that emphasizes building the leader's legitimacy through honest relationships with followers which value their input and are built on an ethical foundation. The authentic leader acts upon his or her values and beliefs, and inspires others to do the same, is committed to know and develop oneself. Are you committed to developing yourself; know your motivations and the purpose of your leadership? Read this article to know more about authentic leadership style and discovering your authentic self.
-
Understanding of how individuals of different cultures interact with each other is very important. Not all individuals can adapt to the leadership styles expected in a different culture whether that culture is organizational or national. In a fast-paced business environment, developing a richer understanding and sensitivity to other cultures is a skill that leaders must possess. Learn to be effective in a cross-cultural setting.
-
Bureaucratic leadership relies on a clear chain of command and strict regulations. Bureaucratic leadership style is a very decent style for work involving serious safety risks, such as handling toxic substances, moving large objects. The focus is on compliance with rules and laid down procedures to make sure that the group is doing their job correctly and safely. Learn some advantages and disadvantages of this style and situations in which this style could prove to be effective.
-
Have you ever resonated that there seem to be as many different ways to lead people as there have been great leaders? When we recall the success of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte to Steve Jobs and Jack Welch, we also notice that they all used different approaches that were suitable to their specific situations and circumstances. Over the last century, researchers and psychologists have developed simple ways to describe the “Styles of leadership” and in this section, we will explore these commonly known leadership styles.
-
Charles Darwin had once commented that “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” Agility means the capability of rapidly and efficiently adapting to changes and recently, agility has been applied in the context of software development, agile enterprise, and agile leadership. Agile leaders play an important, even essential, role in scaling agility in an organization. Understand how being an agile leader helps in effectively catalyzing organizational change.
