Have you ever attended a meeting or a presentation where the speaker was just agonising to listen to? A CEO for example, presenting the new company vision intending to persuade and get commitment for their idea while standing behind a podium, speaking in a dry, dull, monotonous voice, reading directly from his notes – word for word and word after word? The only thing you want to do is scream for it to stop but you were just too sleepy to care? I have attended those talks and meetings and I can still recall the nightmares I had. Hilariously, I don’t remember a word those CEOs said.

It is astonishing to find thousands of articles on Leadership inside Harvard Business Review, while only about 80 focus on charisma. Yet, most of us prefer to follow and allow ourselves to be persuaded by a charismatic leader, and would rather buy from charismatic sales people, and stay tuned to charismatic personalities. I think it is time to start paying attention on how we can bring out charisma and add it to the skills of leadership, sales, networking and such.

Nothing you have in your arsenal of business resources provides you with a better bang for your buck than you, simply being the best version of yourself. There is a reason why businesses put their CEOs and other top people in the limelight and why their performance affects share prices. Your business is more than just a logo or a name. It’s a face that we recognise and assign values and personalities and characteristics. And whether it is displayed on every advertisement, printed on every item or in every representative, it works. It’s that human touch or charisma – an image in our minds that we perceive about someone or something that helps us feel good inside and want to be persuaded. So being charismatic isn’t just useful as an influencing characteristic, it’s financially important too!

Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? Many people believe that Charisma is some ‘magical quality’ people are either born with or not. But the truth is, we are all born with charisma – literally! Babies have it. That’s why people just go crazy around them when they see one. However, somewhere down the road we seem to lose this special magic…

Charisma is not merely behaviour either. Just behaving in a certain way might appear charismatic but it dries out quickly and it becomes a race to always outdo the previous behaviour. Those kinds of tricks will feel fake and most people who have their “B.S. Detectors switched on” will see right through it straight away. And having the loudest voice, the biggest signboard or the most expensive advertising campaign isn’t it either. Genuine charisma goes beyond the behaviour gimmicks like fake smiling, kissing babies, and abusing linguistic trickery.

The reality is, charisma has never been anything wildly complicated. It is simply you, being your unique character – Free from your limitations, uninhibited by your fears and unchained from outdated beliefs that you have learned before and no longer need. Until now, those limits have only served to stop you from becoming who you really are. And yes, you can learn it again, because you have simply forgotten it or made yourself believe that you don’t have it.

The fundamental thing about charisma is that it is very powerful and unique. If I asked you to list down then of the most charismatic people you’ve ever met or known, you would find they are all people who changed the world. You will also find that there is no other quality they possess in common than, apart from ‘charisma’…whatever that is. All of them have unique personalities and approaches, as do you. They each have their own agenda, come from different parts of the world, and lived in different areas, at different times. So, there is no ‘one size fits all’ charisma. It’s simply your personality allowed to reach full potential. And nothing is more unique than human personality that connects with others on a genuine level. Reaching the full potential of your charisma starts with connecting with yourself first; freeing yourself from your limitations and fears. Realise this:

How charismatic do you think you really are if you’re still afraid of rejection, embarrassment and failure?

How compelling can you be when you aren’t full connected to what you are saying?

How charismatically can you communicate to those critical people around and persuade them when all you are thinking about is, how ‘not’ to mess this up?

I have met hundreds of professional speakers and leaders who worry about what the audience was thinking about them. Instead they should be more concerned about how they can make the audience feel. Studies show that people will believe and/or be persuaded when they perceive the speaker to be more connected with the message.

So what that means is that in order for you to compellingly communicate, you need to unlock your limits and allow yourself to connect with the message and with the audience. Think about this ask yourself – what would it mean to your personal and professional life when the way you present yourself be better to you and to others? What sort of advantage would you have over your competitors if every aspect of your communication skills got your people moving, believing in your vision and gained support? What would it do for your business if you could uniquely position yourself in a way that your customers relate with better?

For other useful tips and other life changing ideas, please read our other blogs and learn the #AuthenticNLP™ with NaviGo® NLP Center.

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