Charismatic Influences That Created Pop Culture

Steve Jobs (Technology).  Even before Apple became a technology company, Steve Jobs was instrumental for making computers “user friendly” and sexy.  Jobs’ charisma made him the first technological rock star whose impact is seen in every form from sleek and aerodynamic computers to multimedia. 

Craig Venter (Science). Venter is credited for being one of the first persons to sequence the human genome.  Craig Venter’s accomplishments have influenced the future of biotechnology fused with entrepreneurialism.  Much, like Alexander Graham Bell, Venter is a scientific businessman, which made science sexy by taking research out of the laboratory and placing it into the marketplace.

“Superfly” (Movie). Ron O’Neal’s portrayal of Priest made the drug culture attractive, although the movie was meant to provide an anti-drug message. This 1970’s explosion captured imaginations through O’Neal’s charisma, Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack, a tight storyline and the styles of that period.  Movies like: “Scarface,” “New Jack City” and “Sugar Hill” are cut from this genre.   

“The Mack” (Movie). “The Mack” starred Max Julien, which revolutionized and glamorized the pimp lifestyle.  This 1970’s megahit showed the rise and fall of a pimp much like Al Pacino’s portrayal of Tony Montana in “Scarface.” While “The Mack” attempted to show the downside of street life with some peppering of messages like “Staying in school,” it largely influenced a generation of Rappers who point to “The Mack” as a rags to riches saga for achieving one’s goals at any cost. 

Evel Knievel (Stunt man). Robert Craig Knievel was the first rock star stunt man who captured the imagination by jumping over cars, buses and a canyon with a motorcycle.  Knievel can be credited for influencing today’s extreme sports from motorcycle jumping to bikes and skateboards.

Julius Erving (“Dr. J”-Basketball).  Dr. J influenced contemporary basketball played “above the rim”.  Erving’s impact created the legendary Michael Jordan, who mesmerized a legion of basketball players whose acrobatics on the court has raised the NBA brand to global proportions.  

Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five (Rap). This group broke ground in 1982 by producing the first urban experience song “The Message.” “The Message” changed the whole genre of Rap music from boasting about personal exploits to characterizing the visceral experiences of life in urban Communities.   

F. Lee Bailey (Law). While there was a line of influential attorneys before F. Lee Bailey, he was instrumental in ushering the “super lawyer” as a media darling. Bailey was instrumental in raising the profile of the law profession through high profile cases to where today’s court shows are media successes.  The likes of Johnnie Cochran and Willie Gary came out of Bailey’s influence and impact. 

Gianni Versace (Fashion Designer). Versace was instrumental in placing fashion on the front burner of contemporary minds as he placed clothing on celebrity behinds.  Versace impacted the fashion industry by making individuals rock stars by merely wearing the Versace label.

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What Does Not Having Charisma Cost You?

Can Charisma Be Manufactured?

Researcher and lead instructor Edward Brown, M.S., of Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute conducts a question and answers (Q & A) session to determine if genuine charisma is inborn or a product of a highly evolved skill set.

Q: How is manufactured charisma derived?

A: First, a loose definition of manufactured charisma is the idea that a person initially did not have charisma and over a course of time, developed charisma. The learning or skill set building of charisma may be viewed as manufactured. As such, manufactured charisma takes place when a person decides that life can be more productive and profitable if he or she demonstrates more charisma and seeks to adopt the traits of those defined as charismatic.

Q: So, is developing charisma as simple as waking up one morning saying, “I want to be more charismatic?”

A: Well, yes and no. Yes, you can wake up one morning and determine that your life can be enhanced with certain skill sets that fall under the charisma doctrine. However, it requires work that takes some time to achieve. You can’t emulate charismatic leaders or manufacture more charisma unless you dedicate yourself to the process.

Q: Okay, what are some of the skill sets that lead to manufactured charisma and can you provide examples of each skill set?

A: Yes, if an individual wanted to speak with charisma, he or she could learn how to draw audiences in by telling great stories and anecdotes based on his or her life experiences and tie the stories to a compelling message. Although former President Bill Clinton is charismatic, he was not always a charismatic speaker. In 1988, Bill Clinton was introducing Democratic Presidential Nominee Michael Dukakis, when he received the greatest applause once he announced that his speech was coming to a close. It’s hard to imagine Clinton boring any crowd today, but he learned through the laws of engagement, how to speak with charisma.  Also, you can manufacture charisma like celebrities do. From Elvis Presley to Liberace to Michael Jackson, charismatic personalities within an industry show a propensity to wear clothes that are cutting edge and express individualized distinction. What you wear and how you wear effects your level of charisma. Finally, you can manufacture charisma by learning how to be more persuasive and influential. Clerics within various religions are great at creating self-reverence as well as persuading others to a point of view. Pastors, Rabbis, and Imams are adept at being persuasive because they represent an ideal as well as fulfill built-in needs within individuals.  All this is learned behavior.

Q: If all these factors are learned and manufactured, is there such a thing as genuine charisma?

A: Well, there is a distinction, but on the surface the two may look the same.  For instance, if Bill Clinton is a genuine charismatic personality and President Barack Obama has manufactured charisma, is there a difference in most people’s eyes in their success?  Essentially, they are loved, admired, and successful, because of their charisma. In fact, Obama used some of the same political strategies and techniques that Clinton used to get elected. A genuine charismatic personality is a combination of genetic, social, and psychological factors aligning to produce a visionary or compelling personality. A manufactured charismatic personality uses the outward imagery of charismatic leaders to produce a vision of charisma. To the naked eye, the results appear the same.

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How to be Charismatic to Distinguish Yourself within Your Profession Using the Lessons Exhibited by Charismatic Leaders

In today’s economy, it is difficult for employees to totally commit to a company that may terminate them based on market conditions.  Out of fear, employees may go the extra mile, but look for other opportunities to rid themselves of this fear.  The greatest challenge for corporations is gaining the loyalty employees once had for companies. On the other hand, employees have to distinguish themselves and create an illusion of indispensability.  Charismatic leaders stand out in their profession.  Developing charisma is one way of distinguishing yourself in creating an air of indispensability.  There are few things you can do to enhance your charisma and create a greater impression within your profession.

1.   --  Become an opportunist.  One of the greatest gifts charismatic leaders possess is the ability to seek out, create, or exploit opportunities. By looking vigilantly for opportunities to develop a new skill set, lead a project, or take classes, prepares you to become more marketable in creating interchangeable skills.  In this economy, employees must become self-directed research experts.  By asking and answering questions such as: What trends are being forecasted in the coming year? What industries show the biggest opportunities for growth?  What are your strengths for forging ahead within your current industry?  By having an eye toward developing interchangeable skills, you develop confidence in your ability to adapt to changes in the marketplace.

2.       Create disciples within your ranks.  The idea behind loyalty stems from the belief that relationships are symbiotic and mutually beneficial to the participating parties. In other words, the more value you create for individuals within an organization, the more loyal these individuals become towards you. By fulfilling latent or hidden needs within people, they become your eyes, ears, and mouthpiece within the organization.  By becoming the “go to” person within your organization, you become known inside and outside the organization as a person who can get the job done as well as breed loyalty within employees. The ability to read and fulfill the needs of individuals is a valuable trait during times of uncertainty. Charismatic leaders create disciples by recruiting, grooming, and setting standards for followers.  In turn, followers try to reciprocate by meeting these standards.  

3.       Create a company around your skills. Because charismatic leaders become viscerally connected to their personal vision, they always have their own agenda even when employed within a company.  By creating your own company, if only as a hobby, you are self-assured of your ability to compete in the marketplace.  Consequently, you create a balance of power by having your own corporate entity as you contract your skills with your current employer. Individuals with options think and act more powerfully than individuals without options.  The ability to be psychically free to choose courses in life is the cornerstone of charismatic leadership.  These choices allow for greater creativity, happiness and income potential. By having actual and potential streams of income allow for employee agility and mobility.  Assessing, creating, and exploiting opportunities are the essentials for distinguishing yourself within your profession.


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Charisma, Self-Interest & Generation Y

Philosopher Ayn Rand got it right when she posited self- interest being more important than the collective agenda. Essentially, she believed society was better served when individuals were allowed to explore their full potential in every area of life purely for self-aggrandizing purposes over societal acceptance or pleasing the masses. By Rand's account, self-interest is seen as the catalyst for individual achievement and self-actualization and lies at the core of human nature. Within the last 12,000 years, since the inception of civilization, every component of the socialization process through religion, governance and law has made an effort to quash the impact of self-interest. Yet, every human contribution or achievement is a direct result of man and woman acting in their self- interest; whether it was a tangible result or mere emotional pleasure. In fact, the "Baby Boomer" generation, born 1946-1964, is credited for not only amassing the greatest wealth in the history of civilization, but laying the foundation for the success and achievement mentality of contemporary society. So, why has society regaled self-interest, yet fought vociferously against its ultimate power? And what can students learn from its glory as well as its greed?

"Self-interest" and thus "self-preservation" is a dominant characteristic of human nature. To skew the term to a negative connotation inherently relegates it to the dungeon of isolation. Very few people are inclined to embrace doctrines and ideologies that seek to diminish human potential. Whether it’s a book, movie or play, we want a happy ending. The happy ending exemplifies the redeeming value of the human spirit. We need to know that if someone strives for the "greater good," they should find it. After all, what good is being good if there isn't a pay off? Eminent psychologist Alfred Adler noted that humans are slaves to their motivations. The motivational force within humans rules their choices throughout life. At the end of the day, the individual seeks peace, tranquility and happiness. This is the directed outcome for the greater good! The greater good in this context is described as "The striving for great achievement or noteworthy contribution for the sake of personal accomplishment, which invariably serves the greater community." The challenge becomes when the quest for the greater good usurps the power of others.

A USA Today newspaper article (January 10, 2007), titled, "The Goal: Fame & Fortune" reported high school and college students are more interested in fame and fortune than previous generations. Today's generation of students are concerned with obtaining well-paying jobs and gaining some level of distinction within their chosen profession. While on the service this smacks of the values demonstrated by Baby Boomer, there is a difference. Today’s students don’t have a benchmark of experiences by which their value stems from. Baby Boomers had the aftershock of the Great Depression mixed with civil and social unrest. Today’s students have MTV and the melancholy that comes from a favorite T.V, show being canceled. Not surprisingly, Generation Y (as they are referred-- (1976-2001) has taken the idea of parental affirmations for being special to a whole new level. Generation Y believe they are entitled to the best that life has to offer. Surveys suggest that Generation Y doesn't believe in 60- hour work- weeks and as one manager for a large payroll accounting company noted " Are the first ones out of the door at 5:00PM." Employers are challenged and perplexed, because the fear of losing a job doesn't frighten this generation. They can always go back home to live with mommy and daddy (If they aren't living with them already). The social stigma of immaturity or arrested development doesn't seem to affect them. In fact, Generation Y is believed to be the closest to their parents than past generations. Parents are sought for guidance and advice well into their child’s adulthood. One case study showed a college student getting a sub-average grade on a term paper. After class, the student approached the professor and handed him her cell phone. On the other end of the line was an irate parent wanting to know why her daughter received a low grade. Years ago this would not have been acceptable nor heard of. In short, the success-driven Baby Boomers have exacerbated the natural selfishness within humans and created a more self-absorbed Generation Y. Their original intention might have been an attempt from saving children from the setbacks and challenges they faced while growing up. But, in the interim, parents might have made them weak and over dependent. With such levels of entitlement, can Generation Y use extreme self-interest to astound the world through innovation and achievement as their predecessors?

The answer is "yes" with the right foundation. The self-interest of Generation Y if not steered in the direction of industry success and professional achievement will lead to a generation of individuals fraught with insecurities and unprepared to assume responsibility for the continuation of civilization. In addition, parents who've micromanaged their children’s lives into adulthood will feel the brunt of co-dependency as they advance in age with limited resources. To insure Generation Y has solid footing requires a few dynamics to take place.

First, students must become more inquisitive and critical about the world around them. While technology is an excellent tool for supplementing the educational process, it can't be the focus itself. The upside of advanced technology has been the equalizing of society's economic strata. Both rich and poor are privy to the same information over the World Wide Web. The downside is the "dummying down" of students. In a random survey administered by Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute, which asked students "Do you believe your generation has anything to contribute to the next generation?" Overwhelmingly, respondents felt their generation had little to nothing to contribute or pass on to future generations. The major reason provided was the proliferation of technology and its ease in providing information requiring little to no thought. They felt they weren't required to analyze information, because in some respects it had been done for them. Even in cases of plagiarism, the guilty party may go unsuspected, because of the enormous amount of information at their fingertips. As a result, students must develop a curious nature about social phenomenon in specific areas to begin the process of contributing a body of work built on the foundation of past achievers. By synthesizing their thoughts from a vast array of information into a specialty allows them to distinguish themselves as problem solvers as well as experts within their fields. In a world filled with generalists and neophytes, experts rule!

Secondly, students should know what they want to invest their lives towards and the cost for the pay off. While, details may be initially murky, once the general interest is determined, it should be tapered down to specifics as time goes on. Experts suggest that a minimal of 10 years is required to begin scratching the service towards making a mark within an industry. For economists and philosophers the time is longer; an estimated 20-25 years to become world renown. The cost in the way of time, money and resources requires a different kind of focus than is usually seen in even above average students. In some respects, the level of focus has to border on obsession. It requires a relentless quest with steel determination over a period of years. This level of commitment might be even foreign to educators who are commissioned to inspire this level of tenacity. The student must delay gratification for so long that she becomes “monk-like.” No children, no spouse nor house note until the completion of the mission. Of course, this is required for highest of ambition, but similar sacrifices have to be made even for a lower degree of professional and economic success. Ultimately, the price for extreme success on the front end has to be paid by the sacrifice in time and resources on the backend. Not to emphasize this essential point is a disservice to students who aspire economic success and distinction, but also a perpetuation of a myth of what it takes to achieve phenomenal success.

Finally, students should institutionalize their accomplishments either by developing disciples, erecting structures or codifying a body of work. For a life’s work to have longevity and permanency requires a system for its perpetuity. Again, this requires a counterintuitive mindset to “quick fixes” and “overnight successes.” To become the next Niccolo Machiavelli or William Shakespeare requires a system of distribution for funneling one’s work. Developing disciples requires having individuals under your tutelage who serve as your mouthpiece to others. The transformational powers of your work has positively influenced your disciples in ways that they spread the lessons learned as well as add to the foundation from their own growth and analysis. Charismatic leaders are the guiltiest of not cultivating disciples once their tenure has elapsed. The magnetism of a charismatic personality can’t sustain a disciple without the proper grooming and direction. Without the proper instructions, the disciple will remember the feelings, but not the message. Erecting structures around a body of work usually comes in forms of schools, Think Tanks and foundations. Each serves to highlight and build the platform of one’s life’s work. While, people are essential for maintaining these structures, it is the building or location itself that is the focal point. Executive directors may come and go, but it’s the structure encompassing enrichment programs, discussions and speaker series that serve as backdrop to the contributor. Codifying or systematically disseminating one’s work either through books, papers, audio, visual or Internet are means for spreading one’s life’s work in a tangible form. It becomes an artifact of the work for generations to come. Institutionalizing one’s work brings financial rewards for the achiever while she lives and passes on to survivors upon death as a last economic legacy to a committed life.

It is no small feat to astound the world with greatness, particularly with so many competing forces. The Baby Boomer Generation did it from economic and social upheaval; Generation Y will have to muster the internal fortitude from a time of uncertainty. The conditions might differ, but achievements emerge from the known as well as the unknown. Whether Baby Boomers lighted a torch or encouraged Generation Y to borrow a lighter will remain to be seen. In the end, generations that follow will either challenge itself to find its own way or lose direction and let the next Super Power on the world’s stage guide them.

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Charm vs. Charisma

Quite often, people confuse charm, magnetism and charisma. In fact, they use the terms interchangeably. It is understandable how this could be the case, but a bit of demarcation of the terms is necessary. The Core Edge Image & Charisma (Core Edge) define “Charisma” as “The creating of perceptions that impact the mind and emotions of others through flair, finesse and glib language.” In other words, charisma is the ability to capture the hearts and minds of people through the use of compelling self-expression. One of the tools used by charismatics is charm. Dictionary.com defines “Charm” as “The power or quality of pleasing or delighting; attractiveness…” Charismatics have a high prescience about human nature and people. As a result, they use charm to enchant the emotional aspect of individuals. This enchantment serves as a magnet for charismatics to attract others. Invariably, charismatics are comfortable and confident in their ability to persuade people by understanding what makes them “tick.” Charisma as such is a mindset, philosophy, paradigm and position on the world stage. Core Edge defines the comprehensiveness of charisma under the banner, ”Charismatolgy,” which is the study of charisma in all its dimensions.

For many theoreticians, charisma has been like “trying to catch air in a bottle.” The intangibility leads many to provide random opinions without the forethought of empirical data or case studies on popular charismatics. By understanding the charismatic personality and his manifestations, the layman can actually use some of the tools of charismatic’s for greater influence on the world stage.

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