Monday, January 28, 2008
target audience: anyone who is in leadership position, particularly band leaders.is charisma the most important quality in leadership? charisma, according to my own personal definition is the kind of personality sparkle that command attention and admiration, and as a result can appeal to a large number of people. in chinese u call this "mei li". it may come in the form of ur own unique personal style( that is enchanting), ur good public speaking skill ability, or ur sense of humour, or the X factor that just make ppl like u indeed, charisma is something tat will aid u trememndously especially if u are in a leadership position, and tat charisma is something that comes natural to you. but no, i do not think that charisma is a must have. firstly, i think we need to understand that charisma is a natural gift, not something everybody is born with and it is also not something that anybody and everybody can just easily accquire. for some people, speakiing in front of a large crowd is something that they can naturally do well,and putting humour into a topic is like flicking fingers . but for others, even giving a one minute speech can be challenging and difficult. all of us, leaders and non leaders alike, have to face the reality exceedingly few people have the natural gift of charisma and if we only base our judgement on leaders based on this quality, then most ppl would not qualify. if you are in a leadership position and charisma is not your natural gift, please do not try to force it out. there is really no need to purposely make yourself something you are not. no point trying to imitate someone whom you think has alot of charisma by imitating the way he talks and no point trying to "copy " the "sense of humour" of other people. trust me, the effect will come out very awful when u try to be someone you are not. there is absolutely nothing to be ashame of or feel inferior about. everybody is different and we all have different significance. i think it is possible to be a fantastic leader without charisma( of course, wad is a good leader is a subjective question), i think a good leader need to have the more down to earth qualities and inner virtues instead of just external flowery appeal. hardwork commitment , dedication as well as care and concern for ur members is something that is very important. u need to have ur sense of responsibility and take things and people seriously and put ur memeber interest before urself. All these qualities charisma cannot replace. as i am a band member, i will use the example of my experience. i know one conductor( i will not mention any names here of cos) who is not very charismatic, who is quite old, slow in speech and all tat. but yet he is very dedicated, nice and care tremendously for his student. there was once he had a harp player entering his band and he even specially wrote to the composer of the piece he is playing for syf to write a harp part so tat this harp player can benefit frm the experience. this harp player is so motivated and the band did well for syf. So, i think motivation dont neccessary need charisma to come about. on the other hand, i have also know conductor who has fantastic charisma, fantastic band teaching, fantastic band but are nevertheless bastards. i will stop here for today but i will continue on another entry, see above for the next part.haha |
