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Do Project Managers Need Charisma? Do You?

How important is charisma?

This past weekend, earnest jobseekers heard everything from how to polish their LinkedIn profiles to the need for a product mindset at PMI Chicagoland’s Career Conference. Along with discovering, from me, how to embody confidence and charisma.

I chose that word—embody—deliberately.

Now, you could just decide you’re going to be more charismatic, but it’s pretty tough to think your way to that ability to attract, inspire, and even fascinate other people.

And while some refer to charisma as inborn or God-given, I believe that however we start out, we can become more charismatic. And making sometimes-subtle shifts in your physicality can help you get there.

Oh. And yes, charisma is important for those project managers. And it’s important for you too.

There’s been a lot of talk about charisma in the news lately.

You may be familiar with the outspoken editor, columnist, broadcaster, and author Tina Brown. She ran big glossy magazines back when we still had big glossy magazines; now she writes on Substack, “Fresh Hell” and turns up on TV shows and podcasts.

I heard her on John Heileman’s “Impolitic,” discussing the recent election and its aftermath. She earned her “outspoken” descriptor, when Brown talked about people in public life, including candidates to chair the Democratic National Committee.

Brown dismissed them all as, “A bunch of snore-mongering, who-gives-a-damn, I-don’t-care, get-out-of-my face people.”

We want juice and color these days, she said. And looking back over a couple of decades, Brown pointed out presidential candidates who didn’t have that juice and color. They lost.

“If you are not telegenic … if you don’t have the ability to seem unfiltered even if you are filtered … if you can’t own a room … if you can’t dominate a TV show … get out of the way. Because this is a world where that really matters.”

You’re not running for political office, you say?

Neither am I. And neither are my new friends, the project managers. We may, however, aspire to be leaders. Of a company, or a team within a company, or a non-profit organization that’s important to us.

I’m not (quite) as mouthy as Tina Brown. I do agree with her, however, that if we intend to lead, it is just not enough to have knowledge, or experience, or even connections.

You can probably think of colleagues, past or present, who had all those advantages in abundance. And yet … they didn’t quite meet the moment. There just seemed to be something missing.

That missing element is the juice. The color. The charisma.

That’s why the project managers were listening to me. And why they were brave enough to practice the physical skills that will help them show up and shine in their professional lives, and maybe their personal lives too.

Creating charisma is a worthwhile effort for anyone in business … or politics! And you know I’d be happy to work with the people in your organization to cultivate, okay, to embody confidence and charisma.

You also know where to find me.