ISP Course

Leadership in
European Companies

ISP Course: Leadership in European Companies

Learning Nugget: Charismatic Leadership

Prof. Dr. Stephan Böhm

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 Transformational and Charismatic Leadership
The conceptual link between both concepts

Transformational Leadership

Idealized Intellectual Individualized Inspirational

influence stimulation consideration motivation

 Communicate  Motivate others

enthusiasm with an exciting
 Act as a role vision
model  Enthuse people
 Show behavior emotionally
with which others  Augment the
identify importance of
 Exhibit integrity at goals and tasks
Charisma-components of
all times transformational leadership

Bass/Avolio (1990) : Transformational Leadership Development. Manual for the Multifactorial Leadership Questionnaire.
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 Transformational leadership, Charisma and Firm Performance
Our mandatory paper for today (Boehm et al., Leadership Quarterly)

Boehm, Dwertmann, Bruch, & Shamir (2015)

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 Transformational leadership, Charisma and Firm Performance
Data and analytics

 Sample: 20’639 employees from 150 German SMEs

 Data collection: 3 steps

a. Survey for head of HR for collecting control variables (organization size, industry, etc.)
b. Employee survey with three versions (random distribution to employees):
information about TFL climate, CEO Charisma and organizational identity strength from different sources
c. Survey for CEO for collecting firm performance

 Analytical approach: Structure equation modeling (SEM) with Maximum-Likelihood-estimation

(James, Mulaik, & Brett, 2006)

Boehm, Dwertmann, Bruch, & Shamir (2015)

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 Transformational leadership, Charisma and Firm Performance
Results

N=150 firms.

CEO= chief executive officer;

TFL= transformational leadership.
IST= intellectual stimulation;
AV= articulating a vision;
HE=high performance expectations;
FG= fostering the acceptance of
group goals;
PM= providing a role model;
IS= individualized support.
**p < .01.

Boehm, Dwertmann, Bruch, & Shamir (2015)

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Becoming a transformational and charismatic leader
Charisma can be trained!

Training your

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 Charismatic leadership
Training your charisma

 Charismatic (transformational) leaders are able to communicate a clear, visionary, and

inspirational message that captivates and motivates an audience.

 Research shows that leaders’ charisma has a profound effect on followers’ performance.

 To persuade others by means of charisma, you must..

1. use powerful and reasoned rhetoric (logos),
2. establish personal and moral credibility (ethos),
3. rouse followers’ emotions and passions (pathos).

 Experiments have proven that charisma can be learned and improved considerably by using
various charismatic leadership tactics (CLTs).

Antonakis, Fenley, & Liechti (2012)

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 Charismatic leadership
Training your charisma

Antonakis, Fenley, & Liechti (2012)

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 Charismatic leadership
Training your charisma

For those interested in a more nuanced presentation of John Antonakis, you can refer to this video:
Antonakis, Fenley, & Liechti (2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beF6paCaXlg
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 Charismatic leadership
Dimensions of charisma

Delivery (Pathos)
Animated voice
Facial expressions
Gestures

Frame (Logos) Substance (Ethos)

Clear Story Expression of moral conviction
Metaphors & Analogies Charisma Reflection of the group’s
Contrasts sentiments
Stories & Anecdotes Setting ambitious goals
Rhetorical questions Confidence that goals will be
Three-part lists achieved
Antonakis, Fenley, & Liechti (2012)
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Charismatic leadership
Training Charismatic Leadership Techniques (CLTs)

Goal
 Develop a personal, outstanding speech.
 Reflect about and use charismatic leadership tactics.
Instructions
 Use one of the scenarios provided to prepare a 3-minute speech.
 Use the CLTs introduced before (i.e. frame, substance, delivery).
 Note: Each student prepares a speech for 3 minutes; you have plus or minus one minute
leeway. The maximum time for a speech is 4 minutes. This speech will be delivered in
English. You only need to deliver the speech – No Powerpoints or overheads are needed.
 Please use a realistic scenario and realistic names (e.g., do not say company “xyz”).
Also, you are talking non-stop for 3 minutes. Do not have any interaction with the supposed
person/s you are talking to. Just deliver a speech without pretending to receive interaction
feedback from anyone.

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Charismatic leadership
Training Charismatic Leadership Techniques (CLTs)

Scenarios
Assume one of following scenarios for your speech (if you wish you can do another realistic
scenario and each person can do a different scenario if they wish - I am just giving you some
ideas to get you thinking of what you could do). Imagine that you are a manager of a division of
a multinational company…

 …One of your managers is underperforming. You are pulling him/her in to give them a “pep”
talk and put him/her back on track. Prepare a four minute speech, where you “lay it out.”
 …The new product launch has been a disaster. You are addressing your team with the goal of
turning around the situation. Prepare a four minute speech, where you explain your thinking.
 …The CEO wants to transfer you to another division. You have much to do still in your current
division and cannot imagine leaving; try to convince your boss to not transfer you. Prepare a
four minute speech, where you inform your boss of your position.
 …Because of economic justifications, you have to relocate with your team to another city that
is 100km away. Prepare a four minute speech, to convince them.

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Charismatic leadership
Training Charismatic Leadership Techniques (CLTs)

Goal
 Experience the communication of a personal, outstanding speech.
Instructions
 Work in teams of 3-4 members.
 Every member provides the speech developed before to his/her team or unit.
 Film each other with the cellphone of the person that provides the speech.
 Directly after the speech follows a self-assessment by the speaker and a
feedback by every group member on the persuasiveness of the speech
(assessment of CLTs used).
 Please use the enclosed assessment sheets for this exercise.
 Afterwards please answer in your group the following questions:
 What is important when communicating a speech in an inspirational and convincing
manner?
 What are your most important lessons learnt?

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Summary: Becoming a goal-oriented, transformational
and charismatic leader
 The leadership role is different but complementary from the managerial role
 The New Leadership school proposes a combination of
 Objectives and Rewards (transactional leadership)
 Vision and Charisma (transformational leadership)
 Transactional leadership focuses on clear, individualized goal agreement, management by
exception, and contingent reward, taking into account followers’ strength and maturity level
 Transformational leadership is based on role-model behavior (idealized influence),
enthusiasm for a vision (inspirational motivation), new challenges (intellectual stimulation),
and personal development (individual consideration)
 Transactional and transformational leadership complement each other
 Charisma is a key component to be an efficient communicator and transformational leader.
Charisma can be trained and is based on frame, substance and delivery

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