Let's face it: charisma matters | John Antonakis | TEDxLausanne

Summary

This engaging talk explores the concept of charisma and its impact on leadership. The speaker, initially an aspiring economist, delves into the power of first impressions, demonstrating how quickly people can judge competence from a photo. Through studies and experiments, he reveals that charisma can be taught and significantly influences perceptions and performance. He outlines charismatic leadership tactics, emphasizing the importance of vision, substance, and passionate delivery, and encourages the audience to harness these skills to make a difference.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker initially aspired to be an economist but is now studying psychology, faces, and charisma.
• 🌟 Charisma is hard to define and measure, yet its impact is significant, akin to the Higgs field in physics.
• 🎓 The speaker became a professor at the University of Lausanne, where they began to explore the concept of charisma.
• 🗳️ A study showed that people could predict election outcomes by simply rating the faces of candidates, suggesting an unconscious bias towards certain facial characteristics.
• 👶 Experiments with children aged 5 to 13 revealed that they could predict election results as accurately as adults, supporting the idea of an innate bias.
• 🧐 The speaker questioned the implications of these findings for leadership and the role of appearance in success.
• 💡 Charisma is identified as a form of symbolic influence that can be rooted in values and emotions, and it can change how people perceive us.
• 📈 Six studies demonstrated that charisma can be taught and increased, leading to others perceiving individuals as more leader-like.
• 📊 Charismatic leadership tactics can predict who will become the President of the United States, even when controlling for other factors.
• 📈 Charisma was found to significantly increase worker performance in a study involving temporary workers, without the need for economic incentives.
• 🐦 Twitter analysis showed that tweets using charismatic tactics were more likely to be retweeted, indicating charisma's impact in social media.

Q & A

What was the initial career aspiration of the speaker when he was 17 years old?

The speaker initially wanted to be an economist when he was 17 years old.

What field of study does the speaker eventually pursue and why?

The speaker eventually pursued psychology and charisma, influenced by his upbringing in South Africa and witnessing charismatic leadership in his family and Nelson Mandela.

What is the speaker's profession at the University of Lausanne?

The speaker is a professor in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Lausanne.

What surprising finding from a 2005 study by Alex Todorov's lab at Princeton University did the speaker mention?

The study showed that naive subjects could predict the results of congressional elections merely by rating the faces of the winner and runner-up.

How did the speaker's experiments with Swiss subjects and young children relate to the Todorov study?

The speaker's experiments demonstrated that Swiss subjects could predict the results of French parliamentary elections and that young children, who don't understand concepts like competence, could also predict election outcomes, suggesting an evolutionary bias towards certain facial features.

What does the speaker suggest is the evolutionary reason for judging people based on their appearance?

The speaker suggests that we may have an evolutionary bias towards more beautiful, symmetric, and healthy-looking faces, which could signal competence or other positive traits.

What is the definition of charisma according to the speaker?

Charisma is defined as symbolic influence, rooted in values and emotions, which represents something and stands for something that can be seen, touched, and smelled.

What were the findings of the speaker's study involving EMBA students and charismatic leadership tactics?

The study found that EMBA students were able to double their use of charismatic leadership tactics after training, and the more tactics used, the more leader-like they were perceived by others.

How did charisma impact worker performance in the speaker's experiment involving temporary workers preparing postal mail?

Charisma, in the form of a charismatic motivational speech, significantly increased worker performance to a similar extent as monetary bonuses, without the need for economic incentives.

What is the role of metaphors and stories in charismatic communication according to the speaker?

Metaphors and stories simplify complex ideas, aid in recall, provide a visual, and help get a vision across that sticks, making communication more engaging and effective.

What is the speaker's advice for the audience regarding the use of charismatic tactics in their own lives?

The speaker encourages the audience to identify and use charismatic tactics in their everyday lives to put the price they want on their 'tags' and make a difference.