The power of attributes
On my home today I was contemplating a variety of random thoughts when one jumped out at me. People are made up of various attributes. These can be physical such as tall, short, bald, thin, large etc. or they can also be emotional/personality based such as caring, honest, jealous, mean, nice etc. Certain combinations of attributes can lead to more success while others may hamper ones ability to find success.
So out of all of the various attributes which ones lend themselves to success more than the others? After giving it some thought I think that charisma can directly impact success in a given situation more then all others attributes.
The power of charisma is that it is extremely passive. It is something that works unbeknown to those that it affects. In other words when charisma is being used to impact a situation, people often don’t directly see it working. This gives the user a large advantage of manipulating outcomes with out others interfering.
It simply boils down to people want to be around those that they enjoy and charisma can be an easy way of being enjoyment for others. For better or for worst, those who are likable get things that they might not deserve such as a job they where not qualified for or getting off easy when they make a mistake.
If you take it to the next level, those that possess “super” charisma will be able to do these things with others rarely complaining or noticing that they have done something wrong. More importantly when it comes to light that they have made a mistake, they will be less damaged by it then those that are not charismatic. The perfect case in point is Bill Clinton. He made several serious mistakes and got out of them relatively clean.
The down side of charisma is that it is like a super power, and with great power comes great responsibility. If you have a lot of charisma it is up to you to use it for good. The final piece of charisma is that because of its intangibility it is very hard to acquire. Many people believe it is either something you have or you don’t.
So do you have it?
Your analysis omits the role of effort in success. Attributes, in the Aristotlian sense, are part of the entity and so can’t be taught or acquired independently. Obviously, that’s ludicrous if applied to humans. Perhaps what you mean by attributes if character and right action?
[...] Recently I recieved my first comment on a post (thank you Bill Brown it is nice to know that someone is interested) and some great questions where raised about my views on charisma. Because the questions raised such good points I felt it would be nice to explore the topic a little more in an attempt to overcome the objections and perhaps raise more questions. [...]