What Makes a Leader?

Let’s for a second reflect. Let us reflect on a word that we hold in such great esteem that we use it sparsely to describe someone who is great. What are the characteristics that make a leader? What does a leader possess that others don’t, that make us follow them, blindly at times, and give them more respect than the others?

I would like to argue that there is one thing that separates itself from other qualities, and dictates what a leader should be – charismatic. Charisma makes a leader. However, it is not sufficient, but definitely necessary. A charismatic person in themselves does not constitute a leader, but it is a skill necessary in order to become/be one. The best example that I can give, is Seinfeld. The show (more often than not) gives one of the characters adopting to a phase of life different from their own, and we (as the viewers) see it as appealing, not because it is the CORRECT way to live our life, but because the way it is presented is beautifully done. To name a couple examples: (1) the episode where George decides to do the opposite, because if everything he has done thus far in his life is wrong, the opposite must be true; (2) Festivus. Again (by George, or rather Frank Constanza), the commercial aspects of Christmas are taken into question, and we (again, as viewers) saw this as revolutionary. Furthermore, we caught onto the slogan “A Festivus for the rest-of-us;” (3) and the “stealing my move” episode presented by Jerry towards Putty, about Putty using Jerry’s move in bed with Elaine (which I hope everyone realizes is just a satirical comment used by Jerry about others stealing his routine about situational comedy). As an audience, we thought, YES, this is true, we must change ourselves, and use this as an opening to evaluate others, contending that they must not steal our ideas to achieve a seemingly meaningless end, but moreover, must hold this to protect ourselves, our interests, and our future.

Brash? I agree. It is a stretch, but the basis is still present. Go with me on this. What did Seinfeld have that made us question ourselves? It had the charisma of Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine. It appealed to the openness of the audience (i.e. “we as the audience will allow for creative freedom to stretch the truth, in order that we can relate to the situation”), the medium of comedy, and finally the hilarity of the premise in the first case. We ate it up. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying let’s examine it for a second. If (ex. Case 1), someone came to you and said do the opposite of what you’re doing, you would tell them to go to hell. If (ex. Case 2) someone said reject Christmas because it is becoming commercial you would ponder for a moment, but then conform almost immediately, thinking it was another socialist plot against what you have done all your life. And finally, if (ex. Case 3) someone postulated that you should only be original, you would probably agree with it, hesitate, knowing that it is “mooching” that is at the core of capitalism, and possibly stop, but more likely realize, no, this guy is a pothead. But no – we did not blow these ideas off so quickly when Elaine Benes offered them. We thought a bit harder. And thus, I have reached my conclusion. Although Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer may have been charismatic, that is not sufficient in itself, to drive us towards believing every thing they said, but it did catch our attention. It made us stop for a second.

Hitler made the Germans stop for second. JFK made the Americans stop for a second. John Lennon made the music industry and much of its audience stop for a second. And nevertheless, no matter how ruthless (or beneficial) the actions of each of the individuals may have been, they were all leaders. Hitler was a hell of a leader. He made the Germans at the time believe that the superior race (the Aryans), were blonde-hair, blue-eyed, built, masculine men. This coming from a short dark-haired man. But the guy was charismatic, that’s how he got his point across. (Please don’t look into the fact that me calling Hitler a hell of a leader condone his actions/violence against millions of Jews as a commendable person…let’s get real. It only supports my view that charisma promotes those aspects of a leader.) I could continue the examples with JFK and John Lennon, but I believe those are more apparent.

Charisma, ladies and gentlemen. Charisma. It never loses meaning, yet becomes increasingly difficult to define. It is difficult to put into words, yet we all know what it is. It describes those around us who we admire, yet we cannot assume the same trait as readily. It pulls at all of our emotions to the point where we don’t know what to believe. It is a powerful magnet.

So what is the point of all of this? Food for thought, I guess. I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s a message to say, be weary of those who you follow since it may just be a ploy that you can avoid if you maneuver around their charisma. Maybe it’s a cry to those of you who have the ability to lead, but are lacking a certain factor, i.e. charisma. Either way, you are in one category, or the other. But remember: in any project, any argument you wish to win, or any attempt to grab attention, charisma is undoubtedly the key.