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Charisma is a red herring in leadership. Merriam-Webster defines charisma as, “i) a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure (such as a political leader), or ii) a special magnetic charm or appeal.”¹ These are not essential elements of leadership. Helpful, yes. Essential, no. Effective leadership does require influencing others to follow. But that influence can come through a variety of ways.

The antonym of charisma is repulsive. In 2020, we lived during a time when we had a political leader whose style simultaneously created an equally large following and a large repulsiveness (detractors). True leadership has to be more comprehensive and capture a greater share of potential followers. It is unrealistic to think that the leader will never have detractors. And the best leaders use these detractors to actually hone their leadership skills.

Another way to look at charisma in leadership is the old saying, “it's all sizzle and no steak.” Individuals who ascend the organizational hierarchy through personality and charisma, but lack competence become ineffective. Because they lack the content or experience to effectively lead, their charisma carries them only so far. Charismatic individuals can stand on stage and engage their audience whether they are speaking truth or not. They tap into what the audience wants to hear and feed off their insecurities or wishful thinking. Perpetuating the delusional thinking or party line becomes the core tool in the arsenal.

Unfortunately, we see too many individuals promoted to leadership positions who lack the necessary leadership skills. Worse, some are elected to high office and lack the leadership skills to capture followers in a comprehensive way. True leaders are able to capture followers, despite differences of opinion or approaches.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins identified his “Level 5” leader as having a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. Charisma and humility can and do coexist for many leaders. Being humble does not mean being a doormat. It simply means lacking the arrogance in belief that they have all the answers and can do no wrong. Individuals who ascend organizations with increasing responsibility typically have received positive feedback and have likely had limited negative criticism. This continuous positive feedback loop can have a detrimental impact on the executive's humility. When surrounded by “yes” people, these leaders run the risk of not developing the kind of humility needed for true leadership as Collins describes.

Some of the best leaders are not well-known charismatic individuals. Take Larry Culp, the first externally hired CEO at General Electric (GE) in decades. Prior to leading GE, Culp was the CEO of Danaher Corporation, having taken the helm at about the same time Jeffrey Immelt took over as CEO of GE from Jack Welch. Whereas the stock of GE fell significantly by more than 30 percent under Immelt, Danaher's stock price rose nearly 500 percent under Culp for the same time period.² Yet we constantly saw Immelt on magazine covers, high-profile political appointments on committees, major conference speaking events, and the like. Culp had a significantly lower profile and was not heralded as a celebrity CEO. He was simply more effective and possessed a significantly more down-to-earth style. To be sure, Culp is in the early innings of turning around GE and time will tell if he will be effective on that transformation journey. In the two-and-a-half years on the job GE's stock is up a modest 1 percent, trailing the broader averages.

Another Level 5 leader Amplifier is Dan Calkins, the president and CEO of Benjamin Moore & Co. He started at the company nearly 30 years ago as a sales correspondent, a job that no longer exists. Shortly after Calkins was promoted onto the executive team, there was a change at the CEO level. All his peers in the executive suite applied for the CEO job, except Calkins. He got a call from the HR leader and Warren Buffett asking him why he didn't apply. He explained that given where the organization was at the time and what was needed to transform the culture and operational performance, he did not feel he possessed the skills necessary to be successful in the role. The organization had gone through significant turmoil over the previous six or seven years and he felt like they needed a leader who could calm the waters and take the craziness out of the day-to-day. He emphasized that he did think he could be the CEO of the company someday, but he personally didn't feel like that time was now. He recognized that if it had been him at the time, it would have been about him and his agenda. Bringing in someone else provided the opportunity for a fresh and unbiased view that was not threatening. This new leader and Calkins worked together to shore up the gaps he had in order to be successful in the CEO position he now holds.

Calkins is self-actualized. He has a realistic and balanced view regarding what he is good at and where he relies on his team's strengths to round out the capabilities at the top. He recognizes that all executives, like all humans, have an ego. And that the positive accolades that come with career progression are fuel for the ego. He is quick to recognize that effective leaders need to check their ego at the door and be comfortable admitting when they don't know something and delegating to the experts on their team. His perspective is that the role of the leader is to help with resource allocation, answer the questions of what we are going to do, why are we going to do it, and how can we do it. He has seen too many leaders who are afraid to admit their weaknesses. Paradoxically, it's the leaders who admit and embrace their weaknesses and mistakes that create more followers than those who deny or cover them up.

There is a bell curve that highlights the relationship of the charismatic leader and the perils of having too much. We call it the charisma trap. There is a baseline level of charisma necessary for leaders to lead any organization, but correspondingly too much charisma may lead to negative results. In Figure 2.1, we look at leadership effectiveness and level of charisma.

FIGURE 2.1 Charismatic Leader Trap

The good news for the introverted leaders is that charisma can be taught. The bad news, when charisma goes too far, the leader may display a tendency toward narcissistic behavior. Unlike leadership development to flex and develop charisma, narcissism is difficult, if not impossible, to mute. There is a high correlation to overly charismatic personalities—those who thrive on self-aggrandizement- and narcissism. It is important to note that leaders bent on self-interest still emerge in business, though most lead to their own self-serving causes—such as Jeffrey Skilling from Enron or Dennis Kozlowski from Tyco, as well as some prominent political leaders. Although they certainly have followers, these individuals are fooled into supporting this narcissistic leader to serve the leader's self-seeking causes. For these highly charismatic celebrity CEOs, the risk is that they are pursuing their own gratification and pulling followers along for the ride. Once the leader develops a narcissistic reputation, there is little hope to regain trust in the organization. In the Trusted Advisor, Maister, Green, and Galford describe how self-orientation erodes trust.

True Amplifiers are essential when the leader lacks charisma and especially helpful when the leader displays tendencies of narcissism. Effective organizations need visionary motivation, but when the leader lacks this critical skill, true Amplifiers can effectively fill this gap. An effective leader would recognize this gap and proactively lean on a key follower to amplify the vision and strategy.

On the other extreme, when the leader is in the zone of potential narcissism, the Amplifier becomes even more critical. The narcissistic leader finds it difficult to separate their personal brand from the corporate brand. They believe that they are the reason for any successes the company may have. They invest in their personal brand and self-promotion at similar levels to the corporate brand. To offset this style, the true Amplifier can become a necessary sounding board to the organization to help build or enhance trust in leadership by redirecting feelings of resentment. Organizations need to understand that the leaders have their back, and the Amplifier can do this when the leader is unable.