What is charismatic leadership? You just cannot stand up in a crowd, say
that I am charismatic and become its leader. So, how does anybody become
a charismatic leader? Looks, skin color, oratory skills, family lineage,
style, etc are some of the words which come to mind

Looks and skin color work but only to a limited extent. Family lineage
would make you a charismatic leader amongst a worthless set of people.
Oratory skills are essential for a charismatic leader. For it to
instantaneously connect with the people their convictions should be
emphasized, fears allayed, hopes fostered and most importantly play to the
gallery. For all these to culminate in a powerful talk, the leader should
be well informed of his audience profile. Just waxing eloquently on the
growth in capital markets, infrastructure, etc amongst a group of drought
hit peasants, you are liable to be stoned.

Style is a combination of voice, body language and dress. You cannot
address an army going to war in a saint like voice. Your voice should be
aggressive and words should be screaming for the enemy blood. Body
language reveals what the carefully planned words hide. It is impossible
for a teacher to inspire his students, if he himself yawns during the
class. There cannot be a better example on importance of dress than
Gandhiji who could easily connect with the masses because of his dress
sense. Why else do you think uniform is given utmost importance in
organizations which want people to achieve a single goal? A contemporary
example of the ultimate style package is Laloo Prasad Yadav. He has all
the style in the world that is required to mesmerize his target audience.

For a leader’s charisma to sustain over a long period of time, he should
be well organized, know the pulse of his audience and most importantly
deliver on his promises.

Balu AM

Use Feeling to listen for what makes people proud.

The secret of all leaders is that they know how to make people feel proud. They may make people feel proud of their country, race, religion, sex, the company they work for, the neighborhood they live in, the work they do, or even the thoughts they are thinking. Just remember how Jesus made people proud to be human, Martin Luther King Jr. made people proud to be black, and Germaine Greer made people proud to be female.

If we want to draw people toward us to help change the world, we should keep in mind that first and foremost, people want to feel proud. Engage them in thinking about our ideas, but in a way that makes them feel proud and excited.

How do you do this? Discuss about things that make people feel proud. Ask people questions that make them feel proud. These discussions and questions elicit responses from people that make them feel effective. These questions might be…

What are you doing right?
What are you proud of recently?

Avoid the usual questions like, “What’s wrong with you?” What are your problems?” and “What are you failing at?” because those kind of questions tend to make people feel anxious, ashamed and defeated before they begin. Discussions based on negative questions go around and around and seldom lead to productive action.

As a leader, we want people to step in voluntarily and help the cause. We want people to empathise and rally our cause. And a good way to move towards this is to make them proud of themselves, and to make them feel proud in the context of our ideas. For example, when we talk to students we ask them “effective questions” that are likely to get them relate their educational experience with that of nation building. Like…

“What are you most proud of having learned to help you grow to a higher level?”
“What are you most proud of in the way you have used your learning to build you nation?”

With these “effective questions,” leader’s people feel proud of themselves at the same time relating their educational decisions to nation building as such.

This is the Feeling part of our listening. We’re listening for what makes people feel proud and effective in the context of our ideas. As a result, we are “leading” them to find pride and excitement in our campaign. That may allow them, at the very least, to hear us, and at the very most, to help us.

Young & Old held no barriers here in this glorious event as citizens of Bangalore marched for a better city ! The movement started by Leadcap (www.leadcap.org) is gaining momentum day by day !
Sangeeth Varghese, a globally acknowledged leadership expert visualised that India needed a second freedom movement to lift our nation from the clouts of corruption & poverty.

Anybody can join the cause and discover their hidden leadership potential and hence become the change !

Come, lets join our hands together and lead our India to her glorious heights ! The marches happen every fortnight (15 days) in different parts of Bangalore. The next march is in Malleswaram on 16th March. For details write to mail@leadcap.org or call Nibras at 9886948667.

This video is made by Prashasth Patil, an active LeadCap leader and the founder of Empire India “To awaken India out of it’s slumber”.

I and Rajesh were witnesses to the first Leadership march that began at Mahatma Gandhi Park a fortnight back. Subsequently, the organisers have had another successful weekend march at Jayanagar drawing people from all walks of life. The next march is slated in Indiranagar this March 2nd.
I caught up with Sangeeth Varghese, founder, Leadcap and asked him the rationale behind the marches, something that’s slowly but surely catching the attention of Bengalureans.
Here he is with his passionate answer.

Ravi Kumar
bangalore.metblogs.com

This wonderful video pretty much encapsulates what LeadCap stands for: