Owing the First 5 Minutes

5 Myths about Charisma

A.] You Either Have it, or You Don't.

~ This is the most pervasive myth of all: some people are born with it;the rest of us can never have it.

We see a great author or scientist on stage at a TED talk holding court, the audience eating out of the palm of their hand, and we imagine they were born with a natural gift for communication.

99% of the time this is nonsense.

Aside from maybe 1 or 2 genetic abnormalities, for most people, it take hours and hours of practice.
The best people learn to repeatedly critique their own performance. They learn the best techniques for crafting an emotional message. They refine their script, polish their words, and work at the craft of storytelling until it's second nature.

All of these elements combined fuse together to create the holy force of charisma, and it's something anyone can learn (more about how to do this too later).

B.] I need more Money, Status, Success to be Charismatic.
~ People think riches and a great career can be a shortcut to charisma
(spoiler alert: they're not).

Countless people are born to wealth and yet fail to captivate a single person when they speak. I've worked with plenty of successful people who struggle to attract someone of the opposite sex, or who find it impossible to give an after dinner speech.

Charisma isn't a by-product of earthly riches. It is an independent skill, which has its own rules for mastery. The sooner we put away our obsession with wealth and status, the sooner we learn the truth: Charisma is about the strength of our character, not the size of our bank account.

C.] "Charisma isn't necessary - what really matters is hard work".
~ No matter what our work, at some point we will all need to sell an idea, present our work, make a difficult speech, have a tough conversation, convince others to change their mind, pass an interview, manage other people, and prove ourselves in person.

I don't care if you're sheltered away in a lab tinkering with a supercomputer all day, at some point, we have to step out into the world and reveal ourselves. And that's when charisma becomes essential.

Charisma on its own doesn't mean a lot. But charisma + substantial work = unlimited results.

D.] Charisma means being Arrogant.
~ It's tempting to think charisma is a superficial skill, one that involves constantly singing our own praises and being over-confident in our abilities.

But it's actually the opposite, real charisma comes from a deeply authentic place where we are comfortable with who we are, so much so that we don't mind being vulnerable and revealing our flaws.

It's about creating a genuine connection with others and deeply understanding their needs so that they want to follow you, whereas arrogance just breeds hostility and makes people want to cut you down to size.

E.] "Charisma is for Extroverts - But I'm an Introvert".
~ This is a popular refrain, "charisma is an extrovert skill, and it's not fair to expect introverts like me to work on it. It's not on my nature."

Look, charisma has nothing to do with being the loudest person at the party. Otherwise we'd have to conclude that every drunken frat boy at a rave was the most charismatic person on this earth (yes, didn't think so...).

Famous self-identified introverts include: Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jimi Hendrix...not exactly people you'd say suffer from a lack of charisma.

Charisma isn't about being an extrovert, it's about being able to inspire others and captivate them with what you say and do.

This leads me to......the actual information related to the book title!