Charismatic Leadership

Leadership Skills
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Charismatic Leadership
Charismatic leadership is a style where the leader uses their charm, emotional intelligence, and ability to attract people in influencing people to follow a set plan of action. The leader uses these qualities to convince people to follow the vision that they (the leader) have. Charismatic leaders are very imaginative and have the ability to create strong and clear visions (Nahavandi, 2014). In addition, they have a unique ability to communicate this vision to their followers. Ultimately, the followers are left with a sense of shared purpose and are enthusiastic about achieving the set goals/ vision.
Charismatic leaders possess a special set of traits that make them stand out from other types of leaders. These include great passion and optimism. They also have a great ability to articulate issues and break down complex things in a way that everyone understands (Choi & Kim, 2021). In addition, they have a unique ability to develop quite compelling visions and have some sort of magnetism that allows them to influence followers towards a certain course. Further, they possess exceptional persuasive, communication, and negotiation skills.
Due to these traits, charismatic leaders have been shown to have the ability to create a strong organizational culture, keep employees motivated, and increase commitment to the organization by followers. These factors are essential for the success of an organization. Consequently, charismatic leaders are great at making organizations grow and develop at an optimal/ exponential rate. Despite possessing so many good traits, there are also some drawbacks associated with charismatic leadership. One of these challenges is that they are sometimes so reliant on their abilities that they are not able to delegate tasks effectively (Jaiswal & Nair, 2021). Secondly, they are often prone to setting unrealistic goals which may jeopardize the future of an organization.
Active Impression Management
The statement refers that charismatic leaders often deliberately conform to an image that will augur well with the expectations of the followers. To achieve conformation, the leader carefully chooses the behaviors to adopt, the appearance to portray, and the style of communication to use. The goal of the leader is to ensure that they portray a positive image that appeals to and influences the workers in a positive manner.
One way through which these leaders achieve the goal of active impression is by projecting an image of competence and confidence. They try to maintain this image even in the face of challenging circumstances. They constantly present themselves to employees as being knowledgeable and competent. Sometimes, they may use examples from their past to validate their ability to go through difficult situations and emerge better and more successful. Depicting an image of being welcoming and warm is another way charismatic leaders attempt to maintain an active impression (Jaiswal & Nair, 2021). They try to be available whenever their followers have issues that need the leader’s attention. In addition, they may attempt to use humor to foster a great sense of connection between them and their employees.
Elon Musk is one modern and original example of a charismatic leader who uses active impression. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has established himself as a charismatic leader who has a great sense of vision and believes that the world can be made a better place to live in through technology/ innovation. He uses active impression management to a...