How Charismatic Leaders Obtain Powerful Influence

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An illustrious man by the name of Dwight D. Eisenhower once defined leadership as “The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” This is precisely the type of manipulative thinking that certain narcissistic charismatic leaders possess, which often allows them to have a powerful influence over others. In this paper, I will examine the charismatic leadership style and discuss how charismatic leaders can obtain a resilient and persuasive influence over others in certain social situations. In particular, I will concentrate on charismatic leaders whom are personalized charismatic leaders, and whom possess the additional trait of narcissism, because when the three qualities are coalesced, the result has the potential to be extremely hazardous to everyone around.

Primarily, let us explore behaviors and traits that are associated with a person being viewed as a leader. Leaders are likely to be somewhat smarter, outgoing, motivated by their craving for influence and control, charismatic, very capable socially, fearless of change, certain of their guidance capabilities, and often have reduced neurosis (Aronson, Elliot, Wilson, Timothy D., & Akert, Robin M., 2007, p. 293). The contingency theory of leadership contends that leadership success is dependant upon the degree of how task focused or relationship focused the person who is leading is and the measure of power and influence the leader possesses over the followers (Aronson, et al., 2007, p. 294). There are several different leadership styles, such as autocratic, charismatic, exchange, situational, strategic, Laissez Faire, transformational, facilitative, and more. Each of these styles is unique, and often a leader may encompass more than on...

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