Can Charisma Be Learned?
Charismatic Financial Advisors are great communicators. They connect on an emotional level. They get people to buy in, to believe. Just imagine that you alone can make someone act and feel a certain way. No other Advisor lights up a room the way you do. Just being near you makes people feel important. That’s charisma. You would be untouchable if you had tons of charisma.
Can you learn how to acquire charisma?
Listen to the audio episode or read the transcript below to learn the answer.
There is a strong argument that people with charisma were born that way. John Antonakis, Marika Fenley and Sue Liechti, learned scholars all, disagree. They contend that the repeated use of certain Charismatic Leadership Tactics (CLT’s) can make a person more influential, trustworthy and leader-like in the eyes of others. Their contention is that you can give people a sense of purpose and inspire them to act if you can learn to do three things: Use powerful rhetoric, establish credibility and stir up emotions.
They are right.
One giant step toward being charismatic is learning how to listen.
Did you ever walk away from a great conversation with a really cool person, only to realize that you did all the talking? That person has charisma. Learn to listen more than you talk.
Learn to tell stories.
We are all mesmerized by a spellbinding storyteller. Learn how to make the unfamiliar familiar. Condense your message and spice it up with analogies, similes and metaphors. Make your message simple. When you help people understand a complex subject, you make them feel smart. When you make people feel smart, you cause them to look at you in a different light. That’s charisma.
Learn to make other people feel important.
Remember that time when you were in a room and that self-important jerk walked in? Don’t be like that. That’s anti-charisma.
Allow the other person to be interesting. Get over the urge to interrupt. Nod. Smile. Agree. Let him or her be the star, if even for a little while.
Learn to ask rhetorical questions.
Questions with obvious answers encourage people to participate. They like that.
Learn to reject mediocrity.
Refuse to settle. Reject me-too thinking. Demand excellence of yourself. Excellence is a magnet. It inspires others.
Learn to speak, act and live with passion.
Passion is contagious. As Pablo Neruda said, act as if you were on fire inside. Don’t just be a Financial Advisor. Fall in love with being a Financial Advisor.
Learn to be a bastion of common sense.
Don’t overpromise. Call back when you are supposed to. Communicate on a timely basis.
Learn to do what you do so well that it is a pleasure to watch you work. Offer a service so good that people want to pay you for it.
In short, keep your fire burning at all times.
That flame inspires devotion in others. You don’t want to talk others into taking action. You want to inspire them to take action.
In a word, care. That’s charisma.
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