Charisma is all in the ears

Chicago Tribune

By Patrick Kampert
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 6, 2006

Barack Obama has it. Your cousin Ernie doesn't. Vince Vaughn has it. And maybe you wish you had it.

The "it" is charisma. Everyone has some. But if you don't naturally have buckets of it like Bill Clinton or Oprah Winfrey, can you develop more of what you have?

You betcha, says Howard Friedman, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside.

"Like any change in personality, charisma improvement takes time and practice," he said in an e-mail.

Charisma isn't just based on physical features either, he said, adding that it has to do with "emotional communication and emotional expressiveness."

Jane Alderman, the dean of Chicago casting directors and who recently portrayed Vaughn's mom in "The Break-Up," says the Chicago-area native's charisma has little to do with being tall. "Vince is a very strong, kind person who's hysterically funny," she said. "But he's probably one of the best listeners I know. He makes everybody feel good; he makes them feel included."

Social scientists like Friedman are able to measure charisma by analyzing non-verbal communication and watching how observers react to certain individuals.

--Patrick Kampert

For tips on how you can get charisma, read read the rest of the article.

Posted by Christine at August 8, 2006 1:20 AM