Sunday
Dec062009
Whatever happened to charisma?
Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 8:00AM
I grew up in an age of icons.
Heck, I aspired to be one myself, if only to my small pool of admirers.
I attend many web conferences every year much like this week, where I am an offical blogger at Le Web in Paris and get to hear, interview and blog on some great speakers.
But, and here's the thing, I also attend conferences, start up camps and tech workshops almost weekly where I must listen to people address a crowd, whether its 50 or 5,000.
Speaking publicly used to involve some training in holding an audience. Only those with the magic ingredient charisma, they got to speak.
Even Jesus Christ knew this. He himself fed people by hand out of baskets, 5,000 of them, if I remember correctly.
*********Groucho Marx, Dorothy Parker,Gilda Radner and Bill Cosby, had us apoplectic in the isles at their dry unforced humour.*****
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
Groucho Marx
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
Groucho Marx
I remember the first time I had sex - I kept the receipt.
***** Groucho Marx
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
Dorothy Parker....
°°So, how do these other mundane people who work in same corporate back office, churning out software to the masses, get to occupy the same stage with the likes of Golda Meir, Billy Graham, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Robbins, Magic Johnstone, Paul Newman,Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul the second, Barak Obama: all of whom have Charisma in spades?
I'm damned if I know, honestly!************************************************
***While motivating your sales team in Boondockville to send out more and more antivirus software, might earn you enough to drive a Lexus, BUT it should never guarantee you a place on any stage, speaking. Unless of course, you happen to be a great speaker/storyteller and can inspire and delight an audience anyway..*************************
How did all these second-rate corporate ants, Johnny-come-lately journos and reality star-wanabees land up behind a microphone?
Answers on a postcard please, you can win a trip with me, listening to some of them.
*********Im looking forward to @garyvee of wine libary TV, and Chris Brogan talk at le Web today. Even if I hated wine, and social media and NJ was my least favourite dialect, I could still listen to them because they have passion for the subject ! *********************
Here's what I recently wrote on the subject
"If you are not passionate about your project/product, no one else will get it either. I'm surrounded by Computer Science graduates, who insist they will programme their rise to the top, every step of the way, exercise complete control, and force their brilliant new idea into our homes".
.... I have one thing to say.... if you can't generate excitement, and lets face it, some of us just cant, then pay someone else to light the fireworks for you. AND GET OUT OF THE WAY.
#Know someone who inspires you, or not? let me know, post a comment here and tweet about it.
Donna Jackson,
Social Communications Strategist
Heck, I aspired to be one myself, if only to my small pool of admirers.
I attend many web conferences every year much like this week, where I am an offical blogger at Le Web in Paris and get to hear, interview and blog on some great speakers.
But, and here's the thing, I also attend conferences, start up camps and tech workshops almost weekly where I must listen to people address a crowd, whether its 50 or 5,000.
Speaking publicly used to involve some training in holding an audience. Only those with the magic ingredient charisma, they got to speak.
Even Jesus Christ knew this. He himself fed people by hand out of baskets, 5,000 of them, if I remember correctly.
*********Groucho Marx, Dorothy Parker,Gilda Radner and Bill Cosby, had us apoplectic in the isles at their dry unforced humour.*****
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
Groucho Marx
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
Groucho Marx
I remember the first time I had sex - I kept the receipt.
***** Groucho Marx
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
Dorothy Parker....
°°So, how do these other mundane people who work in same corporate back office, churning out software to the masses, get to occupy the same stage with the likes of Golda Meir, Billy Graham, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Robbins, Magic Johnstone, Paul Newman,Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul the second, Barak Obama: all of whom have Charisma in spades?
I'm damned if I know, honestly!************************************************
***While motivating your sales team in Boondockville to send out more and more antivirus software, might earn you enough to drive a Lexus, BUT it should never guarantee you a place on any stage, speaking. Unless of course, you happen to be a great speaker/storyteller and can inspire and delight an audience anyway..*************************
How did all these second-rate corporate ants, Johnny-come-lately journos and reality star-wanabees land up behind a microphone?
Answers on a postcard please, you can win a trip with me, listening to some of them.
*********Im looking forward to @garyvee of wine libary TV, and Chris Brogan talk at le Web today. Even if I hated wine, and social media and NJ was my least favourite dialect, I could still listen to them because they have passion for the subject ! *********************
Here's what I recently wrote on the subject
"If you are not passionate about your project/product, no one else will get it either. I'm surrounded by Computer Science graduates, who insist they will programme their rise to the top, every step of the way, exercise complete control, and force their brilliant new idea into our homes".
.... I have one thing to say.... if you can't generate excitement, and lets face it, some of us just cant, then pay someone else to light the fireworks for you. AND GET OUT OF THE WAY.
#Know someone who inspires you, or not? let me know, post a comment here and tweet about it.
Donna Jackson,
Social Communications Strategist
Reader Comments (12)
Right here and Im waiting .........................
You certainly don't need to pay anyone to light the fireworks for you Donna ;)
Andrea
some tweets
# DarenBBC @GabrielleNYC @Britt_W you have to tell that to @wisequeen :-) 10 minutes ago from TweetDeck
# Tuscany Traveller
@wisequeen Is charisma dead and would someone care to define it? http://www.wisequeen.com
@Wildernesschic .GR8 Post
from GabrielleNYC @wisequeen - What ever happened to charisma ? - Nothing - Some people still have it - a few in spades !
I agree, passion is the best fuel for success ;-)
Have fun in Paris!
Ann
Hard to disagree with the thrust of the argument but then you go and include Margaret Thatcher in your list of charismatic icons and suddenly the audience is lost because it brings your judgement into question. The woman was a disgrace. Charismatic my arse.
Dear Rob, I take it you dont like Margaret Thatcher. You label her a disgrace, Well yes she had charisma and was loved by men in particular who found her strength of purpose sexy. I'm not making this up, do your research
Cool blog. So true. Icons are no longer. So called new icons are just 'plastic'. No durabilty. No charisma that spans way beyond their mere mortality.
Thanks wisequeen.
Any references to improving one's charisma?
Paul
Another tweet from @frasermatthew
@wisequeen Mitterrand was ambivalent -- Caligula is hardly flattering. Thatcher's minister Alan Clark in his diaries said he found her sexy.
I've noticed that in SM, everyone is an expert right out of the gate. If conference organizers choose to highlight these people, shame on them. It's fine to have charisma but if you don't have the 'goods; to boot, then, it's a total waste for all involved.
December 6, 2009 | Unregistered Commenter Liz S
I agree that it takes more than a success to win over an audience, but speaking is not easy and some stories are valuable even if delivered by someone nervous and/or uncharasmatic. Jeffrey Zeldman once said to me:
"There are three kinds of speakers. One has great information, but sucks on panache. One has panache, but lacks in content. And the very rare one has both great content and panache."
When I asked him if he were to pick from the two 'lacking' types, he said 'Great content' because at the end of the day, you can put it to use. Being entertained is awesome, but walking away having learnt something new is awesome ++.
Having been on the public speaking circuit for the past 3 years, I know that I'm no 'natural', but I work hard to have content and charm. For some people, it comes naturally. I envy those people. :) But audiences have to be a little more empathetic as well and listen better. A good example of this is danah boyd. danah delivers the most amazing content, but generally she reads from the podium (she's good at looking up and making eye contact, but she doesn't do the passionate arm waving of, say, Gary Vee). However, at the last Web 2.0 expo, a bunch of impatient 'kids' totally disrupted her talk (which was chock full of kickass information) because they were looking for entertainment.
So...what I'm saying is...yes, you are right. Charisma is good. Just because you have a cool company doesn't mean you should be speaking (consequently, I like Kevin Rose and Evan Williams and neither of them are terrific speakers, but their case studies are very useful), but just because you aren't the best storyteller, doesn't mean that you shouldn't speak, either.
My 0.02.
Tara you make a very good point, thanks for taking the time to respond so educatively. I agree, not all are naturally gifted in the speaking department. I think a workshop situation suits them better. When you have a big public audience at an annual event they want to be captivated. Everyone can improve, both listeners and speakers. However Speakers should always keep in mind that the average attention span is 10 mins, after that you better have something to hold them, especially after a day listening to ten different speakers. We all do suffer from information overload, so lightning up the situation by not taking yourself too seriously, or feedback negatively, can help. Havent yet headr you or Kevin speak live yet but have watched online and you both do good.
So lokking forward to a great chat in A Parisian cafe, see ya!
Indeed, one must have passion and personality to publicly win an audience. Truly it is so important to enjoy your work and commit to the ideas or dreams that makes your heart and soul sing out loud. Today's global markets requires out-of-the-box thinking, and creativity. Creativity is just the right brain touch a project or a dream needs to stand out from the crowd. If you know that you may not possess the necessary skills to promote yourself or business, definitely hired a person to assist. Superstars sell, comedians sell, and charismatic individuals sell. Confidence, training, passion, and hard work can make us all charismatic superstars to our own dreams.