Charismatic Leadership

Among insects the honey bee has a queen. Among humans leaders appear in a variety of roles in politics, business, religion, and other social fields. In such a scenario, absence of effective leadership will eventually lead to the destruction or at least degeneration of the group or society. Due to their superior intelligence, many styles and forms of leadership have evolved in the world of humans. One of the most effective and probably the least common is a leader who has genuine charisma. Charismatic leadership: Charisma like leadership has many definitions, but again has a common thread that runs across each one. It is the ability in individual to lead or influence others due to a special quality that has got nothing to do with the education or knowledge that a person holds Strengths: This ability is extremely useful when an organisation is going through troubled times and when a total turnaround in operations and processes are necessary. As mentioned earlier, such leaders can effectively put their vision into practice. If the vision is far reaching and positive, charisma is definitely a strength in such situations. Theatrics and rhetorical ability commonly seen in such leaders can have a great influence among the followers. This is especially useful in political and social circumstances. Limitations: Charismatic leaders can turn into narcissists due to the constant admiration from followers. They have to keep themselves in check all the time for avoiding this degradation of character. Personal ethics of leaders with charisma plays a crucial part in the outcome of actions of the group he or she leads. This will be made clear when examples of charismatic leaders and their actions are given later in this paper. Charismatic leaders are in most cases unaccountable

for their actions. This is because their decisions remain unchallenged. This can lead to over confidence and even arrogance in such persons. Political leaders: He is considered as the father of the nation in that country and even the name Turkey was derived from the last name, Araturk. One of the great leaders of all time is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. This frail old man had the capacity to make the sun set on the British Empire through the principle of non-violence. A nation that does not fight back with arms, but resists in non-violent ways could not be tackled by might by the mighty British Empire and her army.