What is charisma?

[RT Wolf]

Originally Posted by Colm OReilly

Nice Nelson, I like the way you break it down into facets of charisma.

It reminded me of Cialdini's book, Influence. Understanding the principles therein can really help you get the most out of people. Off the top of my head some of them are:
Social Proof (everyone else is doing it)
Scarcity
Appeal to their Ego
Reciprocity - If I give you something you feel compelled to give me back something.

I think there's six but that's all I'm remembering now.

Colm

Brilliant book:

Robert Cialdini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Article: Why Do People Say "Yes?" The "6 Weapons of Influence"

[Athena]

I think the desirable kind of charisma can be called 'POSITIVE ENERGY'

certain people give off light and radiance and positivity, which is attractive--
When they are also of high consciousness, and using their magnetism and talents in a positive and contributive manner, their energy is most wholesome and pure.

Charisma and magnetism often draws resources, people, attention to someone; paired with a high conscoiusness, they will know how to use that energy properly and channel back into a positive contribution.

[MysteryX]

5 years later

If you haven't figured it out yet, you may be interested in this article which clearly defines what charisma is and how to develop it.
What is Charisma

[nietsdoen]

Charisma is a skill you can earn by standing in front of the mirror and practicing a speech.

[taylor]

Imagine a dangerous homeless crazy person who is "in his own reality." Now what if his reality happened to sync up with consensus reality just enough so you didn't think he was insane, he was just unswayed by others. He just did what he wanted. That's charisma. I think if you reference charismatic artists you'll see what I'm saying because they stick out as "in their own reality" and also charismatic because of that. They are often not well educated or even nice people, and yet they have a magnetic draw.

You set the tone for the environment rather than looking to the environment to set the tone for you. If people like your tone they gravitate towards you. If they don't, they become haters. But normal uncharismatic people look to other people to set the tone and then conform to that. People don't love or hate normal people because they aren't really creating a tone to hate or love. They're spectators, living up to other people's standards.

Charismatic people put their identity all out in the open for everyone to see. They aren't micromanaging other people's expectations to try to get approval. They do what they want and people have to react to it. When you're around them, they aren't trying to get anything from you, but are freely expressing themselves, doing what they want. Normal people often find themselves wanting to be more like charismatic people or act in ways that they think will get the charismatic person to like them.

Of course there are politicians and slick salesmen that copy all of these attitudes, and also choose a tone to perfectly match the voter/buyer's. That's really the best of both worlds for maximum sales because you're charismatic AND you closely match people's tone so there is less resistance to adopting the salesman's tone.

I'm oversimplifying but that's a lot of it.