Rule 20: You Can and Must Develop Professional Charisma

SNAPSHOT

What is the most important personality characteristic of an invincible executive?

• Leadership: 21 percent

• Drive/energy: 18 percent

• Writing/speaking skills: 16 percent

• Persistence: 11 percent

• Intelligence: 9 percent

• Self-confidence: 8 percent

• Ethi cs: 7 percent

• Other: 10 percent

There are several adjectives or phrases that invincible executives repeatedly use to describe people like themselves. For an outside perspective, I also asked a couple of executive recruiters what they look for in senior managers, and they too tended to rely upon a similar set of adjectives to describe the intangible qualities of invincible executives.

"The bottom line here is that you have to shine," an executive recruiter told me. Shining means being a "continuous source of light—through perseverance, humor, depth, ethics, and confidence." Another headhunter said, "The really great professionals have a certain veneer of success." It comes across in the way they look, the way they greet someone new, the way they analyze the facts and develop a strategy to resolve a business dilemma, and the humanity with which they accomplish some pretty result-oriented business objectives. "All of it emanates from self-confidence," she added.

Another word frequently used to describe the people who make it to the top is magnetism. People have to "gravitate to you like the Pied Piper," according to Richard Bell of HDR, Inc. They have to want to be around you.

Joe Ryan, the almost philosophical executive vice president of Marriott, says that true leaders have "velocity." He defines velocity as a combination of natural skill, ambition, and productivity. These factors blend together to create the most important feature of a leader: effective judgment. Good judgment in turn inspires confidence in those around you, and that confidence leads to an upward career path, according to Ryan.

Invincible executives also tend to make strong first impressions. Senator Danforth, for example, described President Bush by saying, "He shows you instantly that he is on top of the entire situation. He is tremendously impressive—immediately." Interestingly, I have heard many people say that they almost swooned in the presence of the senator as well. He too is legendary for the positive first impression that he makes on everyone.

Perhaps the most common phrase used by top professionals and executive recruiters to describe their type is charisma—the kind of professional personality that makes good people want to rally around you. Many people will tell you that charisma is an intangible quality and an inherent quality—i.e., you cannot measure it, and you cannot develop it. Based upon my interviews and studies, I disagree entirely. While there are certainly some people who have a natural presence about them, the majority of executives with staying power do not fall into that category.

As we discussed earlier, many invincible executives were painfully shy when they were younger. Many were socially disadvantaged and had a near-inferiority complex when they went out into the world—full of people with better educations and more affluent family backgrounds. Therefore, you can in fact develop that "veneer" of invincibility, that "charisma" that draws others to you. While the comments I received on this topic were rather diffuse, they came down to six basic ways that people develop a charismatic professional personality.

1. Find out what you are good at and work tirelessly to be the best. Finding and developing your talent was a theme early in the book. Charisma develops best when a person—especially one initially lacking in confidence or direction—finally finds his or her gift. Realizing that you excel in some professional skill is like a jolt of energy that can propel you forward for decades. It gives you direction and it provides you with self-confidence and self-satisfaction that transfers to others.

2. Never shy away from a leadership role. Over one-fifth of invincible executives believe that leadership is the number one characteristic that leads to professional success. That means you can never shy away from a chance to lead. Take on unpopular projects. Agree to be the lead person in dealing with difficult customers and suppliers. Remember, however, when you jump into difficult situations, keep expectations reasonable (or even perhaps a little on the low side) and then exceed them by leaps and bounds! Exceeding expectations in difficult leadership roles gives you a "legendary" aura that creates professional charisma. You want to be the one about whom others say, "She's the person who landed the Jones project against impossible odds," or "He's the guy who took it to those government regulators and saved us five million bucks." Build a leadership track record by setting modest expectations—all the while having a plan to pull off a real coup. Then watch your professional reputation grow around you.

3. Work longer and with greater intensity than everyone else. High productivity sends ripples up an organization. Keep your desk and files organized, develop work-positive sleeping and exercise habits, and ensure that your family understands your priorities and you will begin to develop professional charisma among the decision makers in your career. Make it a habit to be on time for meetings and ahead of schedule in getting draft memos and presentations to superiors. Pick up your own phone when you are in the office—never force important superiors and customers to wade through assistants when you are in the office. It incenses them and is a very ineffective way of looking important.

4. Continuously develop communication skills and learn to draw information out of people. You have to write well, but your speaking ability is even more important than your writing skills, according to Bill Marriott. Most invincible executives have had professional assistance to improve their communication skills. If you cannot get professional experience, use volunteer activities, school board meetings, and other opportunities you have to give oral presentations to improve your communication skills. You have to be able to run a meeting and deliver a presentation with confidence, effective intonation, humor, and ease. "How you articulate an idea is as important as the idea itself," according to Admiral Prueher—who demonstrated his communication skills on an international level when he served as U.S. ambassador to China during the tense standoff between the United States and China after a Chinese fighter plane collided with an American surveillance aircraft in 2001.

Perhaps the most critical part of charismatic communication is getting people to open up to you. People want to talk to charismatic leaders; they want to be around them. According to Ron Gafford, CEO of Austin Industries, a charismatic corporate leader "must be willing to share his or her life's experiences. Charisma also includes sharing your failures and the lessons learned from failures. Daring to be vulnerable is a part of charisma." And, Gafford adds, you use your open approach to communication to get others to open up to you to the point where you can draw out of them everything you need to know to run your business effectively. "Orchestrate the conversation so that others share at least as much with you as you have shared with them," Gafford says.

5. Develop the tough/tender reputation. You must be almost ruthless in your desire to improve your organization—financially, in terms of the quality of your product, and in terms of the reputation of your organization. Never take your eye off the fact that the principal goal of most organizations is to make money. (If it's a charity, the goal is to raise money.) That means anything you can do to increase profit margins should be a top priority. Coaching the company softball team, organizing the picnic, volunteering for the office beautification committee—to name a few examples I have seen on r sum s—are all well and good, but they do not make money. You should focus more on product improvement initiatives, customer relations efforts, "tiger team" reviews of other parts of the organization, and similar such activities designed to add to the bottom line of the company.

But, at the same time, show a softer side during otherwise inconsequential moments. Take time to get to know the people working for you and for your bosses. Send them retirement and baby gifts; find something that they are interested in and talk about that when you see them in the hall or chitchat with them prior to a meeting. Show respect for their lives and career goals.

Finally, you have to be a cheerleader for your own people—encouraging them to improve their own professional standing by advancing the organization's interests. Praise should flow freely.

6. Know the facts cold. A young legal associate once made the interesting observation that "the higher up you get, the less people expect you to know about a particular situation." Invincible executives have an uncanny ability to be underestimated in this regard. They amaze people by the mere fact that they have done their homework. Being underestimated is good for a career. It has two components: first, not giving anyone a clue how much you really know, and second, springing it on everyone at the right time. Know how to play this important card well and all anyone will be saying after a meeting is, "Wow, that is one sharp person!" It is a key component to developing professional charisma. Create situations like these where others talk about you so that you do not have to talk about yourself.