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Getty Images Leader’s Self-Insight 12.2

Have You Got Charisma?

This short quiz will help you determine whether you 8. I prefer to
have characteristics that are associated with charismatic a. Honor traditional values and ways of thinking
leaders. Circle the answer that best describes you. b. Promote unconventional beliefs and values
9. I would prefer to communicate via
1. I am most comfortable thinking in
a. A written report
a. Generalities
b. A one-page chart
b. Specifics
10. I think this quiz is
2. I worry most about
a. Ridiculous
a. Current competitive issues
b. Fascinating
b. Future competitive issues
3. I tend to focus on
Scoring and Interpretation
a. The opportunities I’ve missed
The following answers are associated with charismatic
b. The opportunities I’ve seized
leadership:
4. I prefer to
1. a; 2. b; 3. a; 4. b; 5. b; 6. a; 7. a; 8. b; 9. b; 10. b
a. Promote traditions and procedures that have led
If you responded in this way to seven or more ques-
to success in the past
tions, you have a high charisma quotient and may have
b. Suggest new and unique ways of doing things
the potential to be a charismatic leader. If you answered
5. I tend to ask
this way to four or fewer questions, your charisma level
a. How can we do this better?
is considered low. Do you believe a person can develop
b. Why are we doing this?
charisma?
6. I believe
a. There’s always a way to minimize risk
b. Some risks are too high
7. I tend to persuade people by using Source: Based on “Have You Got It?” a quiz that appeared in Patricia
a. Emotion Sellers, “What Exactly Is Charisma?” Fortune (January 15, 1996),
pp. 68–75. The original quiz was devised with the assistance of
b. Logic leadership expert Jay Conger.
Power is an intangible force in organizations. It cannot be seen, but its effect

can be felt. Power is often defined as the potential ability of one person (or de-
partment) to influence other persons (or departments) to carry out orders or to
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do something they otherwise would not have done. Other defi nitions stress that
power is the ability to achieve goals or outcomes that power holders desire. The
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Power
Power achievement of desired outcomes is the basis of the definition used here. Power is
the ability of one person or
the ability of one person or the ability of one person or department in an organization to influence other people

department in an organization to
department in an organization to

infl uence other people to bring
infl uence other people to bring to bring about desired outcomes. It is the potential to influence others within the
about desired outcomes
about desired outcomes organization with the goal of attaining desired outcomes for power holders. Poten-
tial power is realized through the processes of politics and infl uence. Sometimes,
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the terms power and influence are used synonymously, but there are distinctions

Infl uence between the two. Basically, infl uence is the effect a person’s actions have on the at-
Infl uence
the effect a person’s actions
the effect a person’s actions titudes, values, beliefs, or actions of others. Whereas power is the capacity to cause
have on the attitudes, values,
have on the attitudes, values,

beliefs, or actions of others
beliefs, or actions of others a change in a person, influence may be thought of as the degree of actual change.
For example, as a child you may have had the experience of playing a game you

didn’t really want to play because one person in the group influenced others to do
what he or she wanted. Or you may have changed your college major because of

the influence of someone important in your life, or shifted your beliefs about some
social issue based on the infl uence of political or religious leaders.

Although we usually think of power and influence as belonging to the leader,
in reality they result from the interaction of leaders and followers in specifi c
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