Swimming in the charismatic ocean: a tail of a leader and her follower

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

Published: 12th of June 2014

Vivian (Mrs.) is presently my MD at Textsworth Publishing Limited, Lagos Nigeria. She is a very charismatic young lady with high vibes for success and she is always committed towards ensuring that she attains any goal she sets. I started working with Textsworth as a marketing executive in December 2013 before being promoted as a brand manager in 2014. A month space isn’t it? It took many people by surprise (including myself). I have become so close with her and more than just a staff because of her charismatic way of leadership. She is a charming jewel, with high level of charisma, persuasive and communicative, encouraging and always fulfilling (at least in the professional line that I have come to know her). I describe her as a charismatic leader because:

1.      She took time to coach me through brand management and leadership by putting me through difficult tasks while also providing necessary guidelines for delivering such task requirements.

2.      She is easily accessible and communicative, allowing me to voice out my fears completely and designing right steps to regain my full potentials.

3.      She has a very strong and fighting spirit, which motivates me a lot because I began to believe that all things are possible if you put in your best.

4.      She has a clear vision of what she expects from me a well as time frame for such visions t be articulated, thus pushing me to put in the best of my focused efforts towards meeting such visions. This really helped my sense of focus and strategic management.

In line with Samnani & Singh (2013), a charismatic leader is one can influence followers’ behavior and make them loyal. Charismatic leaders are recognized for their power to draw the loyalty of followers to themselves (Sankowsky, 1995). They are leaders that can make use of personal charm, persuasive communication, and attractiveness to influence followers (House, 1977; Judge, Piccolo, & Kosalka, 2009). Charismatic leaders have well-articulated vision of what they want to achieve and they inspire followers through this vision. Research also has it that followers tend to internalize the communicated values and goals of charismatic leaders (House, Spangler, & Woycke, 1991).

From the above analysis, it is very clear that my MD is a charismatic leader because she exhibits the characteristics of a charismatic leader as showcased in the above discussion. From my personal experience, I think that charismatic leaders have the ability to increase and sustain productivity and profitability because they always bring out the best in a follower. Additionally, I strongly believe that charismatic leadership style is different from transformational leadership style in the sense that transformational leadership is all about change to meet set goals (probability), but charismatic meeting set goals through change (certainty).

References

House, R. J. (1977). A 1976 theory of charismatic leadership. In J. G. Hunt, & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge (pp. 189–207). Carbondale, IL: South Illinois University Press.

House, R. J., Spangler, W. D., & Woycke, J. (1991). Personality and charisma in the U.S. presidency: A psychology theory of leadership effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 374–396.

Judge, T. A., Piccolo, R. F., & Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 855–875.

Samnani, A. & Singh, P. (2013) ‘When leaders victimize: The role of charismatic leaders in facilitating group pressures’, Leadership Quarterly 24 (1), pp. 189-202.

Sankowsky, D. (1995). The charismatic leader as narcissist: Understanding the abuse of power. Organizational Dynamics, 23, 57–71.