In 2008 Alan Chapman, owner of a free online educational resource – ‘BusinessBalls’ and I ran a competition for six months to encourage business people to submit their own definition of charisma. From the hundreds of responses we gathered, I became even more aware that charisma meant different things to different people and that I needed to create my own definition. Charismatic Leadership will be effective, both in the short and long term. Uncharismatic Leadership will be most effective in the short term (as anybody who has ever needed to get a teenage son or daughter out of the house to a tight deadline will testify), but it won’t captivate hearts and minds. Each and every one of us has the potential to be both charismatic and uncharismatic. Because we recognise and understand this shared inconsistency in others, this makes charisma even harder to define. So what is it not? Charisma is not confidence, you don’t need to have a big maverick personality to possess it. You don’t need to shout or show off. Charisma is not charm and it does not necessarily appear when you develop other communication skills.

I studied the behaviours of four charismatic icons who had been filmed in many different situations. Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley. These individuals, in my view, exhibited extremely high levels of charisma. Yet it was a challenge to find behavioural similarities. Margaret Thatcher used eye contact as a decisive, authoritative tool, whilst many of Elvis Presley’s most memorable performances were sung with his eyes closed. Martin Luther King spoke of peace with inflamed vocal oratory. Muhammad Ali, who as a boxer made his name in an aggressive sport, spoke quickly with wit, humour and fast animated hand gestures.

Thatcher and Ali both raved about their successes, regularly playing to the crowd, whilst King’s oratories appeared ignited with religious fervour and powerful metaphors. I noticed that Presley, often appeared humble and awkward when he wasn’t ‘performing’ especially during interviews when he stumbled over his choice of words. This gave me my first clue to the theory that charisma is contextual. Someone might be extremely charismatic in one context yet possess no charisma in another. My initial theory that any individual can become charismatic simply by replicating specific charismatic behaviours was completely wrong. As these charismatic icons demonstrate, they each show their charisma using different types of behaviours. Charismatic people stand out not because of their behaviours, but because of something innate within them that commands and compels our attention.

Inspired by Louise Hay, renowned author and lecturer on the impact of thoughts on the body (‘when we really love ourselves, everything in our life works’), I began exploring whether charisma can be developed by adopting an ‘inside–out’ approach. In other words, the external behaviours exhibited by charismatic people are a – ‘reaction to’ – or an – ‘effect of’ – an internal cause.  I started looking at the inside ‘causes’ of external charismatic effects.  For example, charismatic people are generally passionate about what they do yet each charismatic person manifests their passion in their own unique way. Martin Luther King’s body language, including his facial expressions, were relatively low key during his famous – ‘I have a Dream’ – speech. His biblical cadences, the evocative pictures he painted and his evangelical delivery were behavioural expressions of the passion he felt. Contrast these behaviours with those that Muhammad Ali demonstrated before a big fight when speaking of his desire to win. Ali would talk quickly with high energy and paint pictures with his hands. His vocal range was varied and sprinkled with lots of commanding tonality.

Both Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali were passionate about their lives yet each man expressed their passion with different behaviours. Imagine if Muhammad Ali tried to emulate Martin Luther King’s behaviours? He would have appeared fake and lacking in authenticity. Charismatic people speak with their heart and soul. If you try to emulate Martin Luther King or any other charismatic individual you admire, you are effectively putting on a mask that causes you to emulate behaviours that are not necessarily a reflection of the real authentic you. This immediately dilutes your emotional intensity and inhibits the flow of your natural charisma.

So, the bottom line is: If you are not behaving in alignment with who you truly are, then others will unconsciously and often consciously sense – something just isn’t right about you – and they will disconnect from you emotionally.