Showing posts with label delorean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delorean. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Is the Charismatic Leader a Super Hero?
The Charismatic leadership model offers other challenges to researchers. Often charismatic leaders are viewed as superheroes that swoop down in a moment of need, reminiscent of fictional characters such as Batman and Superman. Within organizational development, finding these heroes becomes even more challenging during times of crisis. Jacobsen (2001) showed that all the conditions that should create the charismatic leader’s appearance, does not. Shamir, House, and Arthur (noted within Jacobsen’s study) mapped the conditions when charismatic leaders appear. The charismatic leader’s appearance is most apt when: 1. The situation is perceived to threaten important values, 2. The relationship between performance and goal achievement is nebulous, 3. The situation is unstable, and 4. The task requires exceptional effort. Attempting to reconcile some sense of pragmatism between the superhuman traits under Jacobsen’s concept with the realism under Callan’s views makes identifying the traits, conditions, and environment that much more problematic to uncover.
Jacobsen tried to bridge the gap empirically by identifying six historical figures deemed charismatic by their transforming an organization, country, or movement. Some individuals included John F. Kennedy, Lee Iacocca, and Adolf Hitler. The biggest challenge with attempting to gauge the charismatic leadership models’ impact on organizational development under Jacobsen is that it happens after the fact. Once the event is over and recorded by history, researchers are tasked with attempting to analyze and articulate what happened. This is more the challenge with monumental events. The impact of the event cannot be thought until it transpires. Contemporary CEOs such as the late automotive designer John DeLorean and Hewlett Packard’s (HP) Carly Fiorina, who was ousted by HP, are not emblematic of the invincibility attributed to the charismatic leadership model. Though they were rising stars at one point of their careers, they could not maintain the luster of the charismatic leader. The subjectivity of the charismatic leadership model makes it such that success is measured far into the future compared to the objective standards ascribed to the traditional leadership model. With the traditional leadership model, the CEO enhances stakeholder profitability, cuts costs, and expands into new markets or does not.
References
Jacobsen, C. (2001 Spring). Dynamics of charismatic leadership: A process theory, simulation model, and tests. Leadership Quarterly, 12(1), 75.
Related: Charisma
Monday, March 28, 2011
Charisma: Before & After
By Edward Brown
The manifestation of charisma has changed over the past 40 years. This Q& A delves into what happened and why.
Q: How has charisma changed in the last few decades?
A: Essentially, individuals started focusing on being popular versus being effective. Everyone wants his/ her 15 minutes of fame and entertainment has trumped all other vocations and aspirations.
Q: What brought about this seismic shift?
A: There are many factors to choose from: The expansion of multimedia, the emergence of the Internet, the morphing of art into reality, the transcendence of sports and entertainment as a past time activity to a way of life. Entertainment overtook law, science and education.
Q: How does the desire to be popular impact charisma?
A: Charismatic leaders are motivated by an internal struggle to rewrite history. It is a long and arduous struggle to start from mere imagination to an idea coming to fruition. Effectiveness takes decades where popularity can come overnight. It is the difference between Maurice White, who went from The Ramsey Lewis Trio to forming the musical group Earth, Wind & Fire and Justin Beiber. White created masterpieces where Beiber creates pop art. Both frameworks are conceptual.
Q: If there is a shortage of charismatic personalities and events, how does new technology fit in? Have the inventors of FaceBook, Amazon or Microsoft redefined what charisma is?
A: Zuckerberg, Bezos and Gates would be described as “geeks.” They were the guys in school who were out of favor with the “Cool Crowd” that girls didn’t necessarily like. These captains of industry proved that geeks or “smart” people win in the end. They are not charismatic, but their inventions have a high degree of magnetism. Interesting enough, a medium that would act most favorable to introverts and “cast aways” is also used by the Cool Crowd. These three individuals alone turned conventional wisdom on its ear by having the world come to them as opposed to them going to the world.
But, make no mistake, these three men are polar opposites of the late auto designer John DeLorean, who was charismatic and a great inventor simultaneously.
Q: So, did Zuckerberg, Bezos and Gates create an environment where charisma is null and void?
A: No, they created an environment where charisma could flourish. A charismatic leader has greater opportunities and resources for leading and maintaining a mission/crusade in ways that were not available years ago. The charismatic leader and people with compelling ideas can cut out the middle man. In the same vein, it is also more difficult to get a message out due to the cacophony or “mass noise” of insignificant people trying to gain fame.
The difference between the messages of the charismatic leader versus the masses is that the charismatic leader will spend a lifetime working towards the manifestation of an idea. The masses looking for 15 minutes of fame will quit and move on to something else in a quest to be popular. Today, more than ever, relentlessness and persistency pays off for the charismatic personality with a compelling idea.
For more information, visit: Charisma
The manifestation of charisma has changed over the past 40 years. This Q& A delves into what happened and why.
Q: How has charisma changed in the last few decades?
A: Essentially, individuals started focusing on being popular versus being effective. Everyone wants his/ her 15 minutes of fame and entertainment has trumped all other vocations and aspirations.
Q: What brought about this seismic shift?
A: There are many factors to choose from: The expansion of multimedia, the emergence of the Internet, the morphing of art into reality, the transcendence of sports and entertainment as a past time activity to a way of life. Entertainment overtook law, science and education.
Q: How does the desire to be popular impact charisma?
A: Charismatic leaders are motivated by an internal struggle to rewrite history. It is a long and arduous struggle to start from mere imagination to an idea coming to fruition. Effectiveness takes decades where popularity can come overnight. It is the difference between Maurice White, who went from The Ramsey Lewis Trio to forming the musical group Earth, Wind & Fire and Justin Beiber. White created masterpieces where Beiber creates pop art. Both frameworks are conceptual.
Q: If there is a shortage of charismatic personalities and events, how does new technology fit in? Have the inventors of FaceBook, Amazon or Microsoft redefined what charisma is?
A: Zuckerberg, Bezos and Gates would be described as “geeks.” They were the guys in school who were out of favor with the “Cool Crowd” that girls didn’t necessarily like. These captains of industry proved that geeks or “smart” people win in the end. They are not charismatic, but their inventions have a high degree of magnetism. Interesting enough, a medium that would act most favorable to introverts and “cast aways” is also used by the Cool Crowd. These three individuals alone turned conventional wisdom on its ear by having the world come to them as opposed to them going to the world.
But, make no mistake, these three men are polar opposites of the late auto designer John DeLorean, who was charismatic and a great inventor simultaneously.
Q: So, did Zuckerberg, Bezos and Gates create an environment where charisma is null and void?
A: No, they created an environment where charisma could flourish. A charismatic leader has greater opportunities and resources for leading and maintaining a mission/crusade in ways that were not available years ago. The charismatic leader and people with compelling ideas can cut out the middle man. In the same vein, it is also more difficult to get a message out due to the cacophony or “mass noise” of insignificant people trying to gain fame.
The difference between the messages of the charismatic leader versus the masses is that the charismatic leader will spend a lifetime working towards the manifestation of an idea. The masses looking for 15 minutes of fame will quit and move on to something else in a quest to be popular. Today, more than ever, relentlessness and persistency pays off for the charismatic personality with a compelling idea.
For more information, visit: Charisma
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