One of the traits of leaders that make people want to follow them is that they exude confidence. They seem sure of themselves as if they know their way around and have a plan for where they are going. One of the traits that people dislike about their bosses is that they seem “sure of themselves.” According to 2014 Gallup poll, the most frequently cited complaint about work are narcissistic bosses, who assume that they are right .[1]
Why do we applaud the person who speaks boldly in front of a large group, or in an interview, and then turn around and complain about someone who speaks with the same boldness to us?
There are reasons this occurs. Most of us have a set of criteria for who has a right to be confident and who does not. We do not necessary tolerate confidence in others that do not resemble us, in appearance, beliefs, social status or any other number of characteristics. Strength of character is perceived is someone who can maintain the status quo if that benefits us, or in a person who brings in change, if that is perceived as beneficial. In our inability to actually judge competence in others objectively we fall back on evaluating the right to be confident based on other superficial traits that don’t require effort to detect.
Others people are more amendable to us when they receiving positive feedback feedback from us. This leads to increased confidence, whether or not this increase is warranted. The people who are overconfident, gain from being so because other people, who have no clue about the other person’s real level of competence, are willing to reward them for just for showing confidence.
Researchers attempting to deal with too much confidence by providing warnings prior to a difficult task or immediate feedback find that unwarranted confidence is a hard habit to break. [2] They find more of the following groups tend to lack well-calibrated judgments concerning their own abilities: Males [3], extroverts [4], optimistic people [5] and those excelling at self-deception, exemplified by the “fake it until you make it” motto [6]. It looks like well over half of humanity has more confidence in their abilities than their actual performance indicates.
Transformational leadership is a theory based on leaders with a set of skills that inspire followers (typically employees) to value their contribution and therefore work harder. It seems like the perfect answer to increasingly competitive nature of business in a global community. But does it work out as well as it seems to in theory?
People of high charisma are not immune to personal attacks. When there is severe criticism or antagonism leveled at them, they may call on their skill to change the desires of their followers to match their own. Often the critical or antagonistic person is dealt with by the followers not the leader.
Stable personality traits are those which appear throughout most of life. As innate, or inborn traits they are already part of the personality in childhood and become notable characteristics or patterns of behavior in adulthood. However, a person’s perceived level of charisma does not seem to be stable. This is not necessarily because behaviors that increase your ability to influence others can be taught and practiced (similar to taking acting lesson). In studies in which managers were provided with this kind of coaching, changes occurred but these were minimal compared to the difference that already existed between the most and least charismatic people in the group.
We see political leaders that have been coached to appeal to the masses on television. They carry themselves erect (confident in the clothes, hair and makeup that their stylist has spent hours on). They smile warmly and expressively, acknowledging associates they recognize in the crowd (who may or may not exist). They speak with authority (having spent many hours listening to their own voice with the assistance of a coach). However, if you want to appeal as a leader that is actually present with a group of people, a different set of skills can make or break your ability to lead. You must be able to identify with the group you are speaking to and show that you are trustworthy and competent.
Look though recent articles on leadership and you will find that creativity to be in high demand. IBM’s Institute for Business Value conducted a survey of 1,500 chief executives and discovered that creativity had risen to top as the most valuable attribute of a leader. The ability to generate new idea, and solve problems creatively has become the new competency that is supposed to ensure the success of a business in tight economic times. 
Ask the average Joe on the street what makes a good leader and a frequent answer will be high confidence. But that is only part of the equation. 
One of the buzz words used to promote teaching managers charismatic behavior is transformational leadership. It is touted as the next generation improvement on the old standby, transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is based on providing extrinsic motivators. In other words transactional leaders provided more rewards for better performance. A contingent reward system apparently works up to a certain point and then no more. Perhaps the employees are satisfied with their current recompense, or find the rewards are not worth the effort. Most likely employees don’t want to consume their entire life with work.
Research on charisma which shows that people who exhibit emotional expressiveness are rated the highest in charisma by others. People can be taught this very skill, and improve it by spending time delivering speeches in front of the mirror, watching their face and hand gestures, and recording their voice to improve inflection. One response was difficulty with teaching people to be charismatic, was teaching them this skill without enabling them to become like Hitler who did practiced these techniques.
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