The room falls silent as the leader takes the stage. Their presence is magnetic. Every word they speak feels like a revelation, sparking excitement, confidence, and an almost hypnotic devotion. Employees, investors, and customers alike hang onto their every promise, convinced they are witnessing genius in motion. It’s exhilarating. It’s inspiring. And more often than we like to admit, it’s dangerous. Lubna Haq reviews the strengths and weaknesses of charisma in leadership.
Charisma is widely celebrated as one of the most desirable leadership traits. We admire bold, visionary figures like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson, crediting their success to their ability to inspire and captivate. But what if charisma isn’t the golden ticket to great leadership? What if, instead of driving long-term success, it blinds organisations and their investors to flaws, fosters toxic cultures, and ultimately leads to collapse?
Charisma can mask incompetence
Great storytellers can make even the most flawed ideas sound revolutionary. Charismatic leaders often succeed in selling a vision before they prove they can execute on it. Employees and investors get swept up in the excitement, ignoring red flags until it’s too late.
Consider Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos. Her unwavering confidence and compelling storytelling convinced some of the world’s most powerful investors and advisors to buy into a company that had no functioning product. The result? A catastrophic failure that left employees devastated, investors defrauded, and patients misdiagnosed. Her charisma, and ability to massage the facts created a smokescreen that concealed the reality.
Charisma breeds cult-like followings
When a leader’s charm is too powerful, their organisation can become an echo chamber. A senior leadership team (SLT) who should be questioning decisions instead feel compelled to agree. Dissenters are marginalised, and groupthink takes over.
WeWork’s Adam Neumann exemplifies this. His infectious energy and audacious vision led to unchecked expansion, reckless spending, and a corporate culture that encouraged excess over accountability. Employees believed in him so fervently that many ignored the obvious warning signs, until the company had to be restructured for it’s survival.
Charismatic leaders struggle with delegation
A common trait of highly charismatic leaders? They not only believe they are the smartest person in the room, but they also deny council from their SLT. This makes them reluctant to delegate real authority. Their presence dominates the organisation, stunting the development of competent successors and sustainable leadership structures.
When a leader refuses to step back, the organisation becomes dependent on their persona rather than its actual operations. If that leader leaves, everything crumbles. A great leader builds systems that thrive without them, charismatic leaders often fail to do this.
They are more prone to ethical failures
There’s a fine line between confidence and narcissism. Studies show that high-charisma leaders are more likely to engage in unethical behaviour, such as abuse of power, financial misreporting, or manipulation. Their ability to spin narratives allows them to escape accountability longer than the average leader.
Take the countless corporate scandals involving once-revered CEOs—from Enron’s Jeff Skilling to Uber’s Travis Kalanick. Their downfall wasn’t due to a lack of vision or ambition; it was their unchecked confidence and inability to recognise when they were wrong.
How do you identify them, and should we be prioritising different leadership traits?
If charisma isn’t the key to great leadership, what is? Instead of worshiping leaders who can talk the talk, organisations should prioritise those who:
- Listen to all opinions especially those that are dissenting and resolve them.
- Build strong, intelligent teams that can function autonomously of them.
- Are transparent about failures and accountable for mistakes.
- Inspire trust through consistency, not just words.
Humble, adaptable, and emotionally intelligent leaders may not electrify a room, but they often build stronger, more resilient organisations in the long run.
The paradox of charisma
It’s also key to remember that charisma isn’t inherently bad, it’s a tool. When used responsibly, it can unite your people, drive performance and productivity, and fuel innovation. But when organisations overvalue charisma, they risk hiring, or promoting leaders who are great at individual contribution but terrible at leading.
So, the next time you find yourself captivated by a leader’s presence, ask yourself: Are they building something real? Or are they just really, really good at making you believe they are?
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