Have you ever met someone that everybody listened to? Whenever they spoke everybody was paying attention and their word and opinion meant something. Usually those people become the center of attention in every room they step into.
Chances are high those people have what we call charisma.

Charisma means having the ability to attract, influence and inspire people by your personal qualities.
If we think of someone charismatic we think of people like George Clooney, Marilyn Monroe or Muhammad Ali.
Even though those three examples impress by their looks, this is not the primary reason we find them charismatic but more on that later.

What benefits does charisma bring?

Being charismatic can be very helpful in many different situations.

Charisma is almost like a magnet. It draws people to you.
They listen carefully to what you have to say and your opinion is always taking into consideration.
Not only is it a good feeling when your opinion matters, it’s also one of the human needs. Nothing feels less empowering than talking to people and no one is paying attention.
No one likes that.

Being charismatic usually means that people look up to you. Sometimes they really like you and love spending time with you but that’s not necessarily a trait.

When people value your opinion it will be way easier for them to support you.
In life it’s almost impossible to achieve something by yourself.
You need the support of others to succeed and having the ability of receiving other people’s support and trust is crucial.

If we think of charismatic people we don’t only think of attractive celebrities like George Clooney. We also think of people like Mahatma Ghandi or Steve Jobs which shows that there is not only one type of charisma.
In fact there are four types.

Different types of charisma

1. Focus charisma

2. Visionary charisma

3. Kindness charisma

4. Authority charisma

Focus charisma:
When someone is gifted with focus charisma they have the strong ability of making us feel like we are the center of the universe.
We feel heard and valued. It gives us a feeling of warmth and significance.
They achieve that by listen carefully to what we have to say. Active listening is important which implies eye contact and showing interest in the person across from you.
Focus charisma is focusing on the other person without getting distracted from things around you.

A famous example of someone with focus charisma was Nelson Mandela. Even though he was quiet, many people that met him said that he gave them his full attention and was full attuned to their responses. Everyone left with the impression that he wanted to learn everything about them and was truly interested in their needs.

Visionary charisma:
Famous examples of people with visionary charisma are Elon Musk or Steve Jobs.
Arguably, they don’t have the easiest personalities to deal with but people are still following them and getting inspired by their ideas and believes.
The reason for that is their unbelievable vision of creating something great and unique. Coupled with a lot of self confidence it is hard not to respect and admire what they have achieved.

Kindness charisma:
Kindness doesn’t mean being friendly and sugar coating everything all the time. It means being likable and giving the impression of having only the best in mind for the other person.
People who are blessed with kindness charisma give us the feeling of being totally safe and taken care of.

Have you ever done something for someone without a thought of what you’ll get back in return? Most people don’t do that regularly and that is why kindness charisma is probably the rarest of the four.
If you’ve ever had someone do something nice for you without expecting something in return, I bet you remember them.

Mother Theresa for example had an aura of kindness. She didn’t care about getting attention for what she did. In fact she didn’t care at all if people found out who she helped or not. She was known for recognizing other people’s needs and putting them first. The people around her felt inspired by her ability to connect.

Authority charisma:
When someone has authority charisma chances are high they are in leadership roles or are very successful.
Authority charisma goes hand in hand with confidence and showing competence. It gives people the feeling that if they follow you, they will be fine.
These are our go-to people because of their expertise and knowledge.

In conclusion

As you can see the charismatic people I talked about couldn’t be more different from each other.
Many of the most charismatic people in history were blessed with more than one type of charisma.
Charisma is not necessarily something we are born with. It’s something that can be learned and certainly comes with life experience.

If you want to find out more on how to be more charismatic, stick around.
I’ll be talking about that in the future.

Thank you for reading.