Charisma vs. Authenticity
Are they mutually exclusive? I don’t think so! The most authentic speakers I have seen and experienced are also the most charismatic. Often authenticity is dismissed and yet this means that we are not paying attention to the affect it has upon people and in the world. Every human has four endowments – self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change and to act.
Self-awareness which informs and defines us. Conscience creates boundaries of behavior. Independent will provides the opportunity to learn and grow. Creative imagination allows us to see what otherwise would be in darkness.
True Brand Creation
These endowments form and inform our authenticity. Our Authenticity becomes in effect our brand. So often, branding is thought of as the business of building an “image.”
But… in my opinion, the heart and soul of what true branding is all about runs much deeper- authenticity. That “image” – whether personal, or corporate – is just the clothing your brand wears. Your brand itself is the authenticity of your company, the DNA… the unique combination of people and products and services that separates and differentiates you from everyone else on the planet.
I love authentic brands. I love great companies, and the remarkable people who make those companies great. And I believe the opportunity to be one of those great brands is available to any business and any leader. To me, it is simple: a combination of clarity, consistency, authenticity and meaning.
The result, a brand that makes an emotional connection, utilizes symbolism, stories, and all five senses. A brand that is remarkable. Not because it LOOKS that way, but because it IS that way – authentically.
Thoughts While Watching The News
Today if we reflect on what our eyes see and ears hear from the ‘news’, the picture seems to be filled with despair. When we take time and understand who we really are and what our purpose is on earth, we are filled with hope. Life is filled with many lessons that appear to be challenging. When we learn the lesson we move on to a new lesson. This is what guides us into becoming the men and women we are created to be, sharing our unique talents and skills with the world. Hope is eternal – the news changes everyday.
Ciao,
Geoffrey
Geoffrey, those CAPS workshops once a month for a year still stick like glue to my soul. What did I learn? What authenticity feels like. When you are hanging yourself out there, connecting directly one on one with each member of your audience they see right through you. Anything less than that is short changing you and your audience.
Eileen Reppenhagen, CGA
TaxDetective
I concur with your analysis that individuals have the ability to be multifaceted through self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. However, my experiences suggest that while multifaceted, people act myopically or “one-dimensionally.” Each idea requires an introspection many people are unable or unwilling to explore. The better leaders fuse these elements, but two are most salient in its application–self -awareness and creative imagination. You can have these elements firing on all cylinders and consciously manifest an opposite reality.
The leaders that are often canonized from Mother Theresa to Martin Luther King, Jr., got me thinking, do people really want authentic leadership? And if so, does authentic leadership play well in the media? It does seem that authenticity is a fleeting term when scrutinized under the klieg lights of celebrity. For example, it has often been said that history repeats itself. This is a natural form of the cyclical changes of humanism. But what happens when history is contrived to appear authentic? In William Duggan’s “The Art of What Works,” his salient point is by looking at what has worked successfully in the past, the chances are great similar methods will work successfully in the present. The final Obama-McCain presidential debate was reminiscent of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate updated to reflect contemporary style and thought. It’s challenging to talk about “authenticity” in a media-centric society. In Maureen Orth’s, “The Importance of Being Famous…,” she coins the phrase “Celebrity Industrial Complex” where the actors on the world stage play to the appetite of the populous. If history is our guide, true authentic leadership from Jesus to Julius Caesar has ended with the citizenry slaying the leader and later deifying his relevance.
Edward Brown
Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute
http://www.core-edge.com