5 Examples of charismatic leaders
As mentioned in the previous sections, charismatic leadership has plenty of historic examples in a range of fields. There are the political examples of Martin Luther King and the other extreme example of Hitler. But you also have charismatic leaders in the field of social justice and business.
The below examples will hopefully outline the characteristics of charismatic leaders and the ideas of the model in a tangible manner.
Mother Theresa
Mother Theresa might not be a conventional example of a leader, but she perfectly fits the definition of a charismatic leader. Mother Theresa, who was born in Macedonia, became a Roman Catholic nun and started working with the poor.
She left her teaching position at the
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For all the world’s Mother Theresas, there are examples of leaders who’ve used their charisma for doing bad. Charles Manson is one such example.
In 1969, the US uncovered a cult called The Family, when the police found nine bodies in Los Angeles. The cult’s leader was a charismatic Charles Mansion who had managed to captivate the attention of young girls, only to end up killing them.
Interestingly, Manson’s leadership skills and charismatic nature wasn’t just natural characteristics. He did, in fact, take a course on leadership and self-improvement during his time in prison. His ability to manipulate and influence people came from a highly popular book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Manson used the learned techniques of promising people things, boosting their confidence just slightly and creating a vision of the better future, where he was the only saviour. Unfortunately for the world, his vision was dark and involved taking the lives of innocent people. He took proven leadership qualities and turned them into a sinister manipulation. Yet, his example shows how charismatic leadership works when it’s
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General Electric’s (GE) CEO Jack Welch is a good example of a charismatic leader. Welch had a sporting background and he used the lessons he learned as an athlete during his time in business.
After graduating from college, Welch found himself working as a chemical engineer at GE in 1960. In 1981, he became the company’s youngest CEO. His approach to his position as a CEO was about creating personal and meaningful relationship. He met with the employees and the customers, talking with them to create a positive atmosphere.
Nonetheless, his charismatic leadership style didn’t mean he avoided working towards the vision. He didn’t hesitate to cut costs, even if it meant laying off employees, because his ultimate vision was about creating a valuable and respectful business. He wanted to create an organisation that would beat its rivals and in order to do this, he had to weed out mediocrity from his company. While this meant certain people had to go, it also improved the company’s communication, its development and ultimately its bottom
For the past few decades, there have been ongoing discussions involving the preferred educational level for nurses entering the field of healthcare. Two routes can be taken to entering the field: one can finish a two-year program and obtain their associate or add two years and get their baccalaureate instead. There are differences, albeit minor ones, between nurses prepared at the associate degree level versus those prepared at the baccalaureate level. However, an increase in technological advances in nursing field, and a higher demand for patient care has recently sparked the discussion of whether or not it is beneficial for nurses to further their education and obtain a baccalaureate degree or even a master’s degree as the case may be.
Charismatic leaders are individuals who seem to inspire others. There are all types of charismatic leaders; some people may deem what they do as evil and others may hold a different opinion. There are some leaders that are seen as saviors, coming along at the right moment when all hope is lost. There are other leaders that people slander their names with the word ‘Murder’. In the end it all depends on which side a follower is on. Jim Jones, Martin Luther King Jr. , and Gandhi were some of the most remember charismatic leaders in history. though very different in what they preach. Then there is the most iconic charismatic leader of all and he goes by many names: Allah, the Almighty, but many know him as Jesus.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority”. The idea of the quote can be explained by Charismatic Leadership that founded by Max Weber in the 1920’s. Sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic leadership as individuals who possess “a gift of grace”. Charismatic leaders have strong visionary qualities and the ability to engage others in action. Furthermore, he also defines charismatic leaders are like hero or people with extraordinary qualities (12Manage, 2016). Weber (1947) stated that leaders with high charisma often be viewed as they have endowed with exceptional powers.
Our world is filled with many successful leaders. The gift of being a leader can be learned; however some individuals have a natural born talent to be a leader. Each leader has his or her own unique leadership style. The gift of being a leader can be learned. Certain individuals are born with a charismatic style and can easily be a leader. A successful leader is one who can inspire and motivate people towards a goal. Martin Luther King Jr. was an individual with a born gift to lead people. The following paper will discuss how Martin Luther King Jr. was able to inspire and motivate people with his effective leadership style.
For example, he shared with his followers his uncommon religious beliefs about the upcoming racial war that would result in an apocalypse. Manson hoped that murderous actions of his cult Family would hasten the end of the world. Most importantly, Charles Manson instilled two core philosophies in his followers. Firstly, he proclaimed that he was to be obeyed by every cult member. Secondly, the Manson Family was supposed to view themselves as the most special people on earth (Guinn
The specific individual should encompass all the charismatic attributes to become an effective and intellectual leader (Burns, 1978).
Being a charismatic can be important, since it is thought of as “an exceptional quality of an extraordinary leader” (Chen, Belkin, McNamee, and Kurtzberg, 2013). With an overall assessment score of 88 (85 being the cutoff for high charisma), I “have self-confidence and strong conviction about my beliefs” (Student Assessment Library, 2008). At the same time, “charisma exists only if followers say it does or if followers behave in specific ways” (Chen et al, 2013). Very good
Working with new graduate nurses has instilled in me the goal to share my knowledge and expertise with others and to teach others the art of nursing. My short-term goals are to complete the Master’s program by the summer of 2014. My second goal is to secure a job as a nurse educator at a hospital and work with my nurse manager to provide program like in-service to the hospital staff and students. I would like to incorporate my education from State University’s master’s program to assist hospital staff and patients in their learning process, with the use of new technology to facilitate the learning and understanding.
As stated in Discourses of Charisma: Barack Obama’s First 6 Months as President of the USA, “charismatic leadership can be divided into ethical and unethical charisma” (Takala, Tanttu, Lamsa, & Virtanan, 2013, p. 155). For the above noted reason, the charismatic leader is heavily reliant on impression management, resourcefulness, and manipulation. When considering methods to garner production and increase performance, then, the charismatic leader seeks domination as a means to complete self-interest for their own purposes. This observation is in stark contrast to the individual consideration exhibited by the transformational leader and the characteristic of servitude from the servant
Avolio, B. J., & Yammarino, F. J. (Eds.). (2013). Transformational and Charismatic Leadership:: the Road Ahead. Emerald Group Publishing.
According to the theory of charismatic leadership, a charismatic leader is a leader who displays certain behaviors and expertise when certain situations exist, and this combination causes followers to attribute charisma back to the leader. Charisma is a trait that is being felt and then attributed to a leader by followers. This makes charisma rare but easily observed when in existence. Max Weber believed that Charisma occurs during a social crisis, when a leader emerges with a radical vision that offers a solution to the crisis (Yukl, 2006)
The first factor of idealized influence is basically charisma and being a strong role model for followers (Northouse, 2010, p. 177). I view transformational leadership as an end goal on a time line of laizzez-faire, then transactional leadership. Even though transformational is the final and best form sometimes an opportunity to become a heroic leader arises. Charismatic leaders are more likely to grow into heroic leaders as followers are going to like the leader more.
Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Charismatic and transformational leadership. In Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills (5th ed., pp. 83-98). Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
In this style of leadership, the charm of such an individual makes their followers seek their leadership without questioning them. Charismatic leaders are essentially very good communicators. They are able to relate and communicate with their followers in ways that a normal everyday individual would not be able to. Charismatic leaders are not only able to co...
Another aspect of leadership includes leadership traits such as being influential and inspirational. There also different contexts of leadership, e.g, leading oneself, leading other individuals, leading groups, leading organizations. Some traits that are often associated with being an effective leader include a measure of intelligence, high energy, self confidence, dominance, and a need for achievement. An effective, charismatic leader must lead by example. That leader must be able to know what is going on, the job or task that is being accomplished, and be able to lead the group into performing the task at hand successfully.