In Praise of Charisma

Agree or disagree: "Charismatic leadership is important both for substance and for the intangible confidence it represents to people."

That's the contention of Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the associate dean at the Yale School of Management and president of Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute, writing a column for the Wall Street Journal.

In an apparent indirect swipe at the recent conclusion reached by researcher and author Jim Collins that quiet determination of a CEO trumps charisma, Sonnenfeld proffers this data:

"A recent study I did with Professor Bradley Agle of the University of Pittsburgh looked at the CEOs of 250 major U.S. firms and their 1,540 management committee members evaluating the bosses' charisma. The results were no surprise: The more charismatic the CEO, the better the firm's performance was. Depending on the measure, roughly 10% to 15% of performance came from the degree of charisma of the CEO."

The value of executive "charisma" may be definitional. As Sonnenfeld puts it: "Our research also showed that charisma was more than the simple showmanship and back slapping that's assumed by other scholars and the media. In addition to personal dynamism and empathy, there is also a value put on authenticity, goal setting and risk seeking."

Hmmmm. If charismatic CEOs are defined as exhibiting "authenticity, goal setting and risk seeking," what are all the others up to?!

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