What is charisma?
Howdy! My name is Tomas and I wrote my thesis on personal behaviors of the charismatic entrepreneur. So I'm sharing some articles on what charisma is and how you can improve yours with tested scientific methods. I'm the CEO and founder of a smart mirror company, Amiroh Smart Mirror. Huge blockchain enthusiast that does some consulting, programmer and generall tech dude.

What drives a man to write about stupid, sexy charisma?
It is April 15th 2016. I am at the Rice Businessplan Competition in Houston, Texas. The RBPC is arguably one of the most well-known businessplan competitions is the world. This year there is 42 teams out of 750 applicants competing for $1,7 million dollars. One of these teams was Neurable, a tech startup led by CEO and founder Ramses Alcaide.

I remember meeting Ramses on the second day of the competition, in the semi-finals. It was five minutes to his presentation, and he was wandering the room introducing himself to everybody. It should be noted that it was probably fifty people in that room. He even complimented my shirt. He went on to the tiny stage, and very successfully, presented his startup. It is to this day one of the best pitches I have witnessed.

Afterwards, I wandered around the room and asked the judges and my classmates what they thought about Neurable. And the common theme was that nearly everybody was really impressed with Ramses. The word “charismatic” was often mentioned. I got the impression that everybody just really liked Ramses for no apparent reason. He was not particularly handsome in any way. He wore a t-shirt with the “Neurable”- logo under his suit, and had shoulder-length hair that he kept brushing behind his ear, which I thought looked rather stupid. The technology he presented was very cool, but also a tough sell to the judges.

Neurable placed 1th in it’s group, and went on to place second in the competition. After my stay in Houston, I was fairly certain that I was going to do an enormous amount of pitching if I was going to be an entrepreneur. If there was a way to increase my chance for funding, I wanted it.

Charismatic orgins
The first to coin the term ‘charisma’ was Maximillian Weber in 1968 (originally in German under the title Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in 1922). This was under the term of charismatic authority, and referred to charisma as a “gift of the body and spirit, not accessible for everybody.” (Weber 1968, 19).

That seems reasonable right? Charisma is a gift that certain individuals was born with. You know that one co-worker you probably have, that is incredibly charming and gets away with everything? Well, fuck that guy for being blessed with his charismatic genes.

In the 1970s, charisma was viewed as a ‘gift’ that some leaders and influential leaders and high ranking executives had. It was described as a personal quality that political and religious leaders was born with. It was later in 1977 that House (House, 1977) presented psychological theory that that charisma referred to “leaders who by force of their personal abilities are capable of having profound and extraordinary effect on followers”. This theoretical shift created a new understanding of charisma. It was not a special gift some people was born with, but an emotional effect or interaction that was created between people (the ‘leader’ and the ‘follower’).

House stated further that it was because of the leaders personal qualities, such as extraordinary competence, that led the followers to believe that the leader would bring on change (e.g. social, technological, environmental etc.). Charismatic leaders reduced the followers feeling of uncertainty and risk, which led them to be highly influential. Those who are said to be the most charismatic leaders through history are often high level politicians in time of crisis (Antonakis, 2011).

This created a more modern view of charisma. This view is the neocharismatic view of charisma and does not view charisma in the same way as Weber’s definition (Antonakis, 2011). Neocharismatic theorist believe that charisma can be studied and manipulated in a close way. This form of charisma can be studied and utilized in an organizational setting.

If you want to read up more on charisma and all of its magic, read this one: https://steemit.com/life/@tommy.roadsneeze/11-proven-tactics-to-improve-your-pitch-and-convey-confidence-in-presentations