Charismatic leaders are actually less effective, scientists find

Charismatic leaders might win a popularity contest but the American Psychological Association says that they are less effective at getting things done.

In politics or in board rooms, charismatic leaders might win the popularity contests but they lag behind on effectiveness, according to the American Psychological Association.

Scientists running a recent study found that charisma is actually a double-edged sword and that there is such a thing as too much magnetism getting in the way of doing things effectively.

Jasmine Vergauwe, a doctoral student at Ghent University led a study set to measure the effects of charisma on effectiveness. Verguawe tested leaders, searched for personality traits, tested employees and asked important questions about how effective the magnetic businessmen actually were.

“Leaders with both low and high charismatic personalities were perceived as being less effective than leaders with moderate levels of charisma, and this was true according to all three rater groups,” said co-author Filip De Fruyt, PhD, also of Ghent University.

And the tests also broke another convention. It showed that highly charismatic leaders did not fall because they were too arrogant, but because they has poor operational behavior.

“While conventional wisdom suggests that highly charismatic leaders might fail for interpersonal reasons like arrogance and self-centeredness, our findings suggest that business-related behaviors, more than interpersonal behavior, drive leader effectiveness ratings,” said Jasmine Vergauwe, a doctoral student at Ghent University and lead author of the study.

The study also found that less charismatic leaders are perceived as less effective because they are seen as not being strategic enough. Also, the point at which the relationship between charisma and effectiveness turns negative can be moderated by an individual’s level of adjustment, or ability to cope with stressful events.

The results of the study were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and could help future employers to pay a closer attention to their hiring practices, especially if they are looking for effectiveness over magnetism.

The scientists suggest that for the best result, employers should be looking at moderate charismatic leaders.

“Our findings suggest that organizations may want to consider selecting applicants with mid-range levels of charisma into leadership roles, instead of extremely charismatic leaders,” said Vergauwe.

Moderate charismatic leaders were found to be good at operational and strategic leadership, where operational describes managing the tactical details of execution and processes while strategic means effectively communicating a vision for an organization and persuading others to share that vision.