essay

Charismatic leadership is defined as the guidance to an organization by one or more individuals seen as heroic or inspiring and who have therefore been granted the organizational power to make dramatic changes and extract extraordinary performance levels from its staff. When the word charismatic is further looked into and broken apart, charisma was defined by Max Webber “as certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he or she is set apart from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural powers or qualities. These are not accessible to the ordinary person and regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader”(Judge & Robbins, 379). Charismatic leaders are individuals with exceptional qualities in the eyes of their followers, thus able to influence their followers to complete the task they need completed.

Usually charismatic leaders are able to influence their followers through a four step process. The first process is through articulating a clear vision (Judge & Robbins, 380). Vision as defined is a long-term strategy for attaining a goal or goals (Judge & Robbins, 380). A clear example that comes to mind about a charismatic leader and vision is the current president of this country, Barrack Obama. While running for president then senator Obama was able inspire and motivate his supporters through articulating a clear vision of his plans as president for the country. On an organization level, charismatic leaders accompany this vision by developing a vision statement. A vision statement is a formal articulation of an organization’s vision or mission (Judge & Robbins, 381). This is usually followed by the leaders through their actions and words being able to convey sets of rules and examples for their followers to imitate.

What makes an individual a charismatic leader? What attributes do they exhibit that others don’t?