Charisma may be result of exhaustive work

NEW YORK, July 15 (UPI) -- Managers and politicians can achieve charismatic leader status in many valid ways, but also veiling their accomplishments, U.S. researchers suggest.

Michael Morris and Chavkin-Chang of the Columbia University Business School; Maia Younh of the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management; and Vicki Scherwin of California State University, Long Beach, say people see certain leaders as charismatic because of apparently "magical thinking."

For example, Steve Jobs is considered a charismatic visionary in part because of his spellbinding presentations of Apple products, the researchers say.

"However, would audiences be as wowed by his informal, spontaneous pitches if they observed the 10 hours of practice Jobs commits to every 10 minute pitch?" the researchers ask.

In one study, subjects judged two executives -- one succeeded through vision and the other succeeded through hard work. However, the findings show compared to the hard-working executive, the visionary executive was judged to be more creative, curious and charismatic.

"Winning in business and political endeavors comes not only from performing well, but also from managing the interpretations that others make of your performance," Morris says in a statement.

The paper was published in the Journal of Management.