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Exercise Your Charisma Muscle

Written by: Sandy Schussel

Article Overview: Charisma comes more easily to some than to others, but anyone who develops these skills can become more charismatic.

Exercise Your Charisma Muscle

"Charisma" helps you attract clients. But is it something that - as a client suggested a while ago - you simply have or don't, or is it something you can develop?

Watching TV as Barak Obama connected with the crowd of 800,000 Democrats in the stadium on a Thursday night before the 2008 election, the word "charisma" came to mind. I'm not making a political statement here-most of the candidates have it: that ability to "light up" a room when he or she walks into it. Webster defines charisma as "a personal magnetism." It was originally a religious term, meaning "of the spirit" or "inspired"-the idea that God's light was shining through someone. So, charismatic people have the ability to let their light shine.

But if it is something you can develop, how can you start? Here are seven ways the experts say you can boost your "Charisma Factor":

1. Live for a mission. Having a "mission statement" may be a start, but if you're not living your mission every day, your charismatic light simply won't be shining brightly. When you have a consistent, authentic message that you live by, people see your light.

2. Derive joy from others. A sincere interest in and concern for other people is a charismatic quality. Dale Carnegie taught us to listen intently to others and to "be impressed, not impressive."

3. Project confidence. A calm, assertive manner is something you can sense in a person when you first meet him or her, and it attracts you. Your clients will respond best to these qualities. Practice projecting confidence.

4. Develop a personal style. Mark Twain quipped that "naked people have little or no influence on society." If your professional uniform is a buttoned down blue pin-striped suit, but that's not who you are, go ahead and wear that big Mickey Mouse watch proudly.

5. Be Happy. Happy people are generally more magnetically attractive than those who appear unhappy. Happy professionals tend to have more clients and happier clients. If you're unhappy, get some help to change your situation. It will improve your charisma.

6. Be bold, but humble. Charismatic people know how to balance talking about their accomplishments with being grateful for-and humbled by-the praise they receive.

7. Embrace your work. Professionals with charisma are leaders in their field. They are able to gently take charge of a room in which something in their field is being discussed and end up becoming at least "slightly famous" for their work. All of that starts with embracing your work.

Charisma comes more easily to some than to others, but anyone who develops these skills can become more charismatic.

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Article Tags: barak obama, charisma, crowd, dale carnegie, democrats, god, light shine, mark twain, mickey mouse watch, mission statement, personal magnetism, personal style, project confidence, seven ways, spirit, striped suit, thursday night, watching tv, webster



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If you think you're alone in feeling overwhelmed by email, take comfort: even top CEOs and the most senior executives feel compelled to stay on top of their email, and most of them find time in the early morning to do so. Ursula Burns, the No. 2 executive at technology giant Xerox, says, "I do email from the minute I get up [5:15 a.m.] and all day long, finishing around midnight." Haim Saban, chairman and CEO of investment firm Saban Capital Group, starts email right after his first cup of coffee "at 6:02 a.m." and works on it for about an hour before his 75-minute morning exercise regimen. Lou D'Ambrosio, chief executive officer at telecommunications equipment leader Avaya Communications, is "on email literally within one minute after waking up. I spend about an hour at home in the morning doing email to jump-start the day. This allows me to have a clear mind when I set priorities for the day." Lou also does email from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at night. 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This is my way of helping bring along the next generation. I can't take time at the office to do this, but doing it in the morning allows me to get exercise and stay connected with young people at the same time." The examples cited here have led me to reassess how I structure my early-morning time, and I hope they help you in making the most of your daily routine as well.


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