The charisma was always a key differentiating element in leadership, sales or negotiation, but in the digital age its impact has been transformed. If until not long ago, personal magnetism was perceived in a room, in a handshake, in the energy that someone radiated in an event or how we made us feel their presence, now the digital schemes have changed everything. On the one hand, these new parameters provide the great advantage of amplifying the influence beyond the face -to -face. But they also put us to the test: how do you inspire when your audience is scattered, it is multitasking and has a thousand distractions a click away?
It is the paradox that Raquel Roca has tried to resolve in his book ‘The Power of the Charism. How to be irreplaceable (and unforgettable) in the era of AI ‘(Editorial Lid). “The well -understood charism is not only a matter of body language or how you speak, but about the energy you transmit, of the intention behind your communication,” he explains. Charismatic leadership has to do with coherence between what you think, you feel and project. If authenticity is missing, it shows. And if what you project is not born from a genuine intention to provide value and improve the lives of others, then it is not charisma, it is only a superficial strategy that sooner or later falls apart. Today, in an increasingly virtual and automated world, we lose essential nuances of nonverbal communication, it is true, but the ability to generate trust and connection does not distort or lose if it is authentic. The challenge is to learn to transmit that connection through a screen, a message on LinkedIn or a zoom presentation. That is, in adapting to a different narrative and formats, without losing the essence of who you are ».
“The digital does not have to mean impersonal, but it gives me the feeling that people have not yet understood,” says Sebastián Lora, a specialist in communication skills, trainer, author, lecturer and youtuber. Therefore, we continue to see virtual meetings in which people do not activate the camera or seem to look the other way, and this makes connection difficult ».
Lora, who is dedicated to training entrepreneurs, executives and groups of professionals through face -to -face courses in Europe, Latin America and the US, has its own YouTube channel (www.sebastianlo.tv) with more than 560,000 subscribers and more than 29 million visualizations: «The premise before my students is: ’emulates in virtual the same situation as in a face -to -face meeting, in front of a meeting. with a non -glazed table in between ‘. What does this mean? That we have to be face to face, looking into our eyes (something that occurs in the objective of the camera); I have to see you well (this requires activating the camera, cleaning the goal, having frontal light and framing in a way that sees you half -torso up to see your hands when they gesture) and listen to you well (thanks to using an external microphone, such as headphones). In addition, it is useful to intend to connect as if we were in a face -to -face contextin which you are looking to talk about more mundane issues, – something that greases social machinery – before entering matter. This is key to building ties and it seems that people do not understand when they are in a virtual environment ».
Lora considers that, consciously or unconsciously, virtuality makes us neglect the three pillars of the charism: being truly present in the interaction, showing emotional closeness and projecting security. And it is something that they have also detected from the Parangon Partners firm, from which they have developed the study ‘how AI is changing the leadership of the company: from the Board of Directors to the Management Committee’. “We have identified that business leaders must adapt to this new context where authenticity and transparency in digital environments are key,” explains Antonio Nuñez, Senior Partner in Parangon Partners and co -author of the study together with José Ramón Pin, professor of the IESE. The most successful managers and entrepreneurs are those who have learned to project trust and closeness even in the digital field ».
According to Nuñez, before, the physical presence, the speech capacity in large auditoriums and the construction of strong leadership from the dispatch of senior management were pillars of the business charism. «Today, the influence is no longer measured by position, but by the ability to generate confidence in hybrid spaces. What remains is the ability to inspire, clear vision and exemplarity as coherence between what is said and what is done. IA is promoting access to information and facilitating data -based decision making, but cannot replace leadership based on values and purpose. Not all leaders have an overwhelming charism, but they must have credibility, coherence and the ability to mobilize their teams. AI is changing the way leaders make decisions, but emotional intelligence remains key. We have detected in our work in Paragon Partners that some of the most effective CEOs and managers are not necessarily the most charismatic in the traditional sense, but those who make their team trust them, that they are perceived as fair and that they know how to communicate clearly in entertainment environments ».
An aspect that deserves more attention is how AI can enhance or erode the charism of a leader. In Parangon Partners they explain that they are already detecting how the most effective leaders are those who know how to use it to complement their leadership, Without losing the human factor. «The key to leadership in the AI era is not only the capacity for technological adaptation, but the ability to maintain trust, authenticity and vision in a constant change, explains Nuñez.
Some examples? «Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Its leadership has been key in the transformation of the company, combining strategic vision, closeness and a communication capacity that has allowed it to promote a culture of innovation and continuous learning. Another interesting case is Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, whose charisma is not based on great speeches, but on its ability to connect with the equipment and transmit with passion the vision of the company. On the other hand, we have also seen cases where poorly managed charisma has led to business crises, such as Adam Neumann in Wework, where leadership based on the exaggeration of a messianic vision ended up weakening the company, ”said Núñez.
Red lines
The line between charisma and messianism is still clear. «Both in person and virtual, the charism inspires; Messianism manipulates. The charismatic leader elevates his team; The messianic leader subjugates him. The well -understood charism is a balance between presence and humility. A charismatic leader does not believe it superior, but understands that his role is to amplify the talent of others. On the other hand, when the charisma is used to feed the ego or control, it crosses the line of messianism and becomes a risk for any company, ”explains Raquel Roca.
Specialist in the future of work and author of ‘Knowmads’, ‘Silver Surfers’ and ‘The Power of the Charism’, says that the charism has a lot to do with health. «We obsess ourselves with developing technical skills, with persuasion strategies, to improve our image on the outside, but what is the use of all if our energy is low? –He explains. If we arrive exhausted, if our body and our mind are not aligned, if we project stress, anxiety or apathy, none of the above works. Vital energy is the basis of every charisma. We cannot radiate trust if we are drained, nor inspire others if our own energy is chaotic. A leader who is always on the edge of the ‘Burnout’ transmits stress to his team. The future of leadership happens to understand that health is not an extra, but a pillar of performance and influence ».
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