Positive Impact

Charisma – Genuine or Sham?

garthspiers — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:49:57 +0000

There are lots of people who think that charisma is just clever tricks of the trade or the sham of the con men and women who can seduce you with their personality and charm. It all comes down to intention. If someone wants to trick you, they’ll no doubt turn on the charm. But that’s a problem with their intention not charisma. Atomic power can be used for good or ill. It depends on intention. People on my workshops often say “are you trying to make us into actors?” I say that you’re already actors – just BAD actors. “All the world’s a stage” says Shakespeare “and the men and women merely players”. We all play roles at work and in our private life – we might be the boss, accountant or secretary at work and the mother or father at home . These are just roles which we play in a given context. But how do we play them? If my life was secretly filmed on candid camera how proud or embarrassed or just plain bored would I be to sit in the audience and watch myself? Techniques that use video are startlingly effective because people have to see themselves as other see them. When I’m at work and I’m asked to make a presentation to the senior group, do the nerves kick in and make me stumble about? Or am I full of confidence and able to access all my capabilites? The great actor is not acting, he or she is being. It’s not our inadequacy that most frightens us said Nelson Mandela, its our greatness. We need to start being great before its too late. Greatness starts when we are willing to express the truth of who we are in the role we’re playing in order to make our contribution on the stage of life. This is genuine Charisma.

What is Charisma

garthspiers — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:40:23 +0000

Charisma is originally a Greek word meaning Grace or a divine gift bestowed upon a chosen few. To say someone had ‘charisma’ meant they had a mysterious power to attract good things and accomplish great feats such as healing or prophesy. The word was later used by sociologist Max Weber to denote a type of authority inherent within the individual. Some people seem to have according to Weber, a certain quality that sets them apart from ordinary men and women, by virtue of which they are treated as if endowed with supernatural or exceptional powers. It has now come to mean personal magnetism, charm, star-quality, personal magic that attracts, empowers and inspires others. All this may seem somewhat mysterious. It may seem like a supernatural power, but with over 20 years of experience as a coach, trainer and consultant specialising in organisational psychology, I am convinced that there is nothing mysterious or supernatural about it at all. Charisma is a constellation of knowledge, skills and attitudes, all of which can be defined and measured. If it is an inborn gift from the gods then we are all born with it. The trouble is most of us loose it. What we need is to regain the art and science of charisma and develop what we have. While Weber was able to identify charisma and define the corresponding political and social structures, he was not concerned with helping people discover and develop their own charisma potential. This is the aim of the Charisma Trainings. The findings of modern psychology and consciousness research are carefully woven with techniques from experimental theatre to create the complete communicator.

Why is Charisma important?

garthspiers — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:05:46 +0000

Many years ago I had a go at being an actor. I had some small parts in telly like Tales of The Unexpected and many great parts in the theatre. But if the truth is told, no one’s ever heard of me. So don’t rack your brains. But after years of being a psychologist and operational research scientist, I wanted to see what it was like to communicate with people rather than with rats in a maze. I saw this open audition for Hair – the 70′s tribal rock musical and I thought “hey an actors life for me. Can’t be that hard”. I remember lining up with the hundreds of wanna bee’s and going over my Shakespeare. Finally I was there. Standing on this huge stage. I couldn’t see a thing because the lights were so powerful. Right in your face. Peeering into the gloom I said “hullo my name is Garth and I’d like to do a piece from…

“STOP… Can you please just stand silently for a few moments?”

So I jsut stood there holding my breath thinking they’ll soon have my papers in order and be with me. But the seconds ticked past. Minutes went by. And what seemed like hours, untill I’d had enough. I said “are you still there?”

“Yeah… we’re still here” came a bored voice from the darkness. Oh my God I thought. They don’t want to know about my Shakespeare piece they want to know about ME. Suddenly I feel a bead of sweat dribble down the side of my face. My throat’s going dry. I can feel my heart pounding. My right leg is shaking like I’d got Parkinson’s. In a dream I hear the three words all actors hate “Thank you. Next.”

I stumble out of the theatre. Can’t believe it. I’ve been lecturing to hundreds of graduates, running encounter groups, presenting to senior management… what the hell’s going on? There were no tigers on the stage, no pit full of snakes. Nobody asked me to do anything. They just asked me to stand there silently.

It took me days before I could put my psychologist hat on and try to analyse this experience. In those days there was nothing to help me. Nothing about confidence, nothing about positive psychology, nothing about emotional intelligence…The only thing that made any sense was talking to some actor friends. They said what I had was a bad bout of stage fright. From then on I decided to give up my job, go to drama school and understand and conquor stage fright.