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7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Highly successful leaders understand that success in any form is not an event, it's a process. The most successful leaders understand that success is something that is cultivated over time. Success is a daily grind, a daily commitment, that functions around your life purpose.

To stand out as a leader in your own right, you must create the habits that back your success and good reputation. Once these habits become a part of your daily routine, you set yourself up to be well on your way to becoming the great leader of your own success and in the helping of others to achieve theirs.

1. Read every day.

Successful leaders know and trust the undeniable benefits the habit of daily reading offers them. Reading makes you smarter, it improves mental clarity, reduces stress, increases your knowledge base, grows your vocabulary, improves memory, activates your reasoning skills, improves your ability to focus and concentrate, increases writing skills, brings you to a peaceful place and is a great source of free entertainment.

Reading is an activity that relaxes and stimulates you at the same time. To be a great leader, you must always be willing to walk through the door of learning. The learning you gain from reading, greatly increases your potential to succeed.
Related: 17 Business Books Everyone Will Be Reading in 2018
2. Focus on challenging tasks.

Exceptional leaders live and thrive in the arena of challenge. The more you challenge yourself to succeed, the greater your confidence becomes in your ability to do it again. Challenge doesn't just help to grow your skills and knowledge, it helps to grow the belief you have in yourself that you can achieve the aims you set out to accomplish.

Seasoned leaders are clear that there's a difference between taking on a challenge that lets them flex their muscles and grow their skillset, and one that is simply a recipe for disaster. Yet, you cannot grow your skills when cruising on auto-pilot. To become a great leader, you must make it your habit to focus on high level tasks that will get you and your team to that next highest level.
Related: Successful Entrepreneurs Challenge Themselves. Here's 5 Ways to Do That.
3. Make your health a priority.

Great leaders make it their habit to take pristine care of themselves on four levels; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. They know that the overall health of their physical body is the foundation from which all other great things have the opportunity to prosper. If you're not physically well, how can the levels above the physical level (emotional, mental, spiritual) be well? If you're sick at your foundation, the whole-of-you cannot function at the levels of peak performance you desire. For this reason, make it a habit to exercise regularly, to eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep and take your daily supplements to help sustain your focus, energy and endurance throughout the day.
Related: 7 Reasons Every Entrepreneur Should Start the Day With Exercise
4. Learn from people you admire.

Exceptional leaders tend to be over-achievers and are often overly critical of themselves when they make mistakes. To avoid getting stuck in this trap, successful leaders make sure to have superiors or other people they look up to and admire to consult with when necessary.
Related: 5 Kinds of People Who Will Help You Succeed as an Entrepreneur
When you have someone to model yourself after, it helps to relieve the acute panic you naturally experience when under the stress of challenging circumstances. Getting advice from the person you admire helps to return you to an emotional state of composure, which allows you to more successfully traverse through the stressful obstacles you are facing. Seasoned leaders understand and deeply respect the concept that all leaders need leaders.

5. Plan your next day the night before.
Related: 5 Daily Habits That Will Increase Your Productivity Levels
A key success habit of an effective leader is to plan their next day the night before. How can you succeed if you lack clarity on what it is you're setting out to achieve on any given day? You may get certain things accomplished, but you will not be organized and may find yourself erroneously focusing on tasks or details that do not make a difference for your big picture. Planning your next day the night before, sets you up to start your day in an organized flow, allowing you to get more done in less time.

6. Keep your goals in front of you.

Many leaders teach the art of writing goals down and then re-writing them every day. Others say it is good enough to read goals aloud once per day. Making it a habit to have your goals in front of you is priceless when it comes to increasing your capacity to succeed.\
Related: Follow These 8 Steps to Stay Focused and Reach Your Goals
The basic idea is to keep refreshing goals in your mind as a way to ensure you're on the right path to achieving them. If you don't employ such a practice, it's too easy to lose sight of what you're aiming for. Instead of leading your life, you find that you're merely reacting to whatever comes up next. When it's your habit to meditate on your goals, you work towards them and achieve them more effortlessly. Accomplishing goals in this way feels incredible, it makes succeeding enjoyable and motivates you to continue to thrive.

7. Take action, even when it's scary.
Related: 3 Ways to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone and Improve Yourself in 2018
Fear. Let's face it, what is familiar to us is almost always better than the unknown because it feels safer. When we are comfortable with the status quo, things are at least predictable even if they are boring or painful.

However, brilliant leaders make it their habit to shatter the status quo. They know that growth and remarkable change can only come from doing what is unfamiliar, bold and new. Personal and creative growth cannot manifest from comfort. The majority of us stay in our comfort zones because change is scary. What if it doesn't work out? What if you decide too late that you were better off where you were? These unknowns can potentially keep you so stuck in the fear of creating change, that you end up staying where you're feeling unfulfilled. Make it your habit to get out of your own way and take some risks. You may not win but you will at least learn.

8. Have a powerful and inspiring "Why."

A life purpose is the first step to living your most conscious and wholehearted life. While you can be busy with a million tasks every day, when you don't have a clear purpose, you may be unconsciously heading down the wrong path. That's because your goals may have nothing to do with your purpose, which means that you can pursue your current goals for the next 5,10 years only to realize that this isn't what you wanted after all. As Stephen Covey once said, "If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster." When you know your Why, working and risking become well worth the effort. Your Why, almost always has something to do with love. We desire to succeed in an effort to take care of, support and nurture the people we love and who support our vision. Great leaders are driven by an all-consuming desire to love others and give back to their communities.

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7 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Highly successful leaders understand that success in any form is not an event, it's a process. The most successful leaders understand that success is something that is cultivated over time. Success is a daily grind, a daily commitment, that functions around your life purpose.

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Texas Education Agency

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National Association of Elementary School Prinicpals

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Submit Your Proposal to Present at UNITED: The National Conference on School Leadership by Dec. 8 Learn More

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National Association of Elementary School Principals - NAESP

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NAESP is a professional organization serving elementary and middle-levelprincipals who represent 35 million children in pre-K through grade 8.

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Administrative Resources

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Education World Principal Files articles focus on the important and practical elements of the school administrator's job. Our P-Files contributors include school principals from around the world who voluntarily share their ideas about issues that all school leaders face. Click if you might be interested in being part of the Ed World Principal Files team.

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Making time in the school day to emphasize academics, tutor students who need help, schedule planning times for teams, or meet many other needs is a challenge all principals face. Our Principal Files team shares how they make time for these things and more.

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A big conference can be the best experience of your professional life -- or a big waste of time! To help you out, our "Principal Files" team shared their experiences. Included: Tips to help you plan for -- and get the most out of -- the next conference you attend.

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Education World Principal Files articles focus on the important and practical elements of the school administrator's job. Our P-Files contributors include school principals from around the world who voluntarily share their ideas about issues that all school leaders face. Click if you might be interested in being part of the Ed World Principal Files team.

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My parallel to effective leadership!

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Strong Roots

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Key Practices Of...

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Servant leadership works because of the specific practices of servant-leaders, practices that help them to be effective leaders and get positive results for their organizations. Seven of these key practices are self-awareness, listening, changing the pyramid, developing your colleagues, coaching not controlling, unleashing the energy and intelligence of others, and foresight. Here is a summary of each of these practices:

Self-Awareness

Each of us is the instrument through which we lead. If we want to be effective servant-leaders, we need to be aware of who we are and how we impact others. Other people are watching and reacting to our personalities, our strengths and weaknesses, our biases, our skills and experiences, and the way we talk and move and act. What we learn about ourselves depends on feedback from others and our own reflection-taking the time to think about how we behave, and why, and when, and consider whether there are other, better, more appropriate, more effective, more thoughtful ways to behave.

Listening

In his classic essay, The Servant as Leader, Robert Greenleaf said that "only a true natural servant automatically responds to any problem by listening first." Servant-leaders listen in as many ways as possible. They observe what people are doing. They conduct informal interviews, formal interviews, surveys, discussion groups, and focus groups. They use suggestions boxes. They do marketing studies and needs assessments. They are always asking, listening, watching, and thinking about what they learn. By listening, servant-leaders are able to identify the needs of their colleagues and customers. That puts them in a good position to meet those needs. When they do, their organizations are successful-their colleagues are able to perform at a high level, and they have happy customers, clients, patients, members, students, or citizens.

Changing the Pyramid

One of the obstacles to listening is the traditional organizational hierarchy-the pyramid. Often, members of the organization look up toward the top of the pyramid, and focus on pleasing their "bosses." But if everyone is looking up to please his or her boss, who is looking out, and paying attention to the needs of the customers? That's why servant-leaders talk about inverting the pyramid, or laying it on its side, so that everyone in the organization is focused on the people whom the organization is designed to serve.

Robert Greenleaf pointed out that the person at the top of the pyramid has no colleagues, only subordinates. As a result, it is hard to get information, and it is hard to test new ideas. The chief may be the only person who doesn't know certain things, because nobody will tell him. Or people may share information that is biased, or incomplete, and they may not share the bad news, for fear that the chief will shoot the messenger. It is also hard for the chief to test ideas. People are reluctant to tell the chief that his or her idea is a bad one. The solution is obvious-servant-leaders create a team at the top. The team consists of senior leaders who are committed to the mission and to each other, who will share information, and who will challenge ideas. The chief is still the chief and makes final decisions, but those decisions will be far better informed and more relevant to the needs of those being served.

Developing Your Colleagues

Robert Greenleaf proposed a new business ethic, which was that " the work exists for the person as much as the person exists for the work. Put another way, the business exists as much to provide meaningful work to the person as it exists to provide a product or service to the customer." Work should provide people with opportunities to learn and grow and fulfill their potential. When your colleagues grow, the capacity of your organization grows. Developing colleagues includes a commitment to extensive on-the-job training, as well as formal education, new assignments, and internal promotions.

Coaching, not Controlling

Coaching and mentoring is a good way to develop people. Organizations need rules and regulations, but trying to control people doesn't bring out their best. Servant-leaders bring out the best in their colleagues by engaging, inspiring, coaching, and mentoring. Servant-leaders help their colleagues understand the organization's mission and their role in fulfilling it. Servant-leaders make sure their colleagues understand the organization's goals, and have the training and tools they need to achieve those goals.

Unleashing the Energy and Intelligence of Others

After developing and coaching their colleagues, servant-leaders unleash the energy and potential of their colleagues. People need experience making their own decisions, because occasions may arise when they need to be the leaders, or make a decision that they normally don't make. Not unleashing the energy and intelligence of others is extraordinarily sad and wasteful. It doesn't make any sense to have lots of people in an organization, but let only a few people-those at the top-use their full potential. Servant-leaders unleash everyone and encourage them to make the maximum contribution they can make to the organization and the people it serves.

Foresight

Robert Greenleaf said that foresight is the central ethic of leadership. In The Servant as Leader, he said that "prescience, or foresight, is a better than average guess about what is going to happen when in the future." Greenleaf said that foresight is the "lead" that the leader has. If you aren't out in front, you really aren't leading-you are just reacting. And if you are just reacting, you may run out of options, and get boxed in, and start making bad decisions-including unethical ones. Greenleaf said that the failure of a leader to foresee events may be viewed as an ethical failure, because a failure of foresight can put an organization in a bad situation that might have been avoided.

While there are other practices that help servant-leaders to be effective and successful, these seven are fundamental. They are about paying attention to people, developing people, and looking ahead so that the servant-leader and his colleagues will be able to continue serving others, far into the future.

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Servant leadership works because of the specific practices of servant-leaders, practices that help them to be effective leaders and get positive results for their organizations. Seven of these key practices are self-awareness, listening, changing the pyramid, developing your colleagues, coaching not controlling, unleashing the energy and intelligence of others, and foresight.

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Leading with Passion and Power

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When, Why, and Where...

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Authoritarian leadership is a leadership style in which the leader dictates and controls all decisions in the group and task. Often referred to as Autocratic leadership, authoritarian leadership is about control, organisation and discipline and while it still has a place in the leader's toolbox, it was regarded as the most prominent style almost one hundred years ago.

Nowadays, it is is seen as a style that can help in certain situations, but only as part of a large suite of tools at the disposal of the Flexible leader After all, you cannot force people to change and often, the leader's role is to challenge the status quo; lead effective change in working practices and team behaviours and therefore lead people along the journey to the completion of successful goals.

Typical Characteristics of an Autocratic Leader

Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgements and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group or task, whereby:

The leader tells and enforces

Little feedback is sought or needed from team members

Decisions on processes, tasks, goals are all created by the leader

There is a sense that team members are rarely trusted with tasks and methods

The leadership style points at a method of just getting the job done

No real sense of empowerment normally morale can suffer in the long term

The benefits of Authoritarian Leadership

For the long term, adopting nothing but an autocratic leadership style can be more damaging than rewarding, as it is seen as a cold, dictatorial, 'I'm right' management style, which can undermine people and stifle creativity. The art of leadership is to be flexible, whereby the leader selects and uses the correct style to suit the situation.

That said, there are benefits to using this authoritarian leadership. Most appropriately, if tasks have to be completed with great urgency and are time critical, setting clear tasks and expectations whilst making the decisions seems a logical step, as often there is no time for discussion. In such conditions, one needs structure, discipline and to get the job done.

Also too, as in the situational Leadership model, adopting a more autocratic style is applicable for not only actions that need to be completed quickly, but also if a team member's skill for the task is very low or novice. In which case, giving clear direction and making the right decisions allows the person to focus on learning or applying their skills.

The Negatives of Authoritarian Leadership

People that normally opt for this style regularly, can be seen as bossy, cold, and a dictator. Let's just say, if it's the only style you use, the chances are you won't be voted as the next best leader sometime soon!

Long term use of its use can also build to resentment and a feeling of festering, whereby those team members are never given a chance to grow, proceeding to the feeling of being undervalued and distrusted.

Research has indicated that due to the nature of an authoritarian leader, and that he/she makes decisions and controls the group, creative problem solving is often thwarted as a result.

Summary - When to Use This Style

Authoritarian leadership has its place in management styles, however, the days of this one style working are long gone. Since the introduction of situational leadership and transformational leadership theories, it is widely regarded that this style is only one of many in your tool box of styles. Each leadership method has its strengths and weaknesses and must be used when the situation calls upon it.

When to use authoritarian leadership? For the long term, an autocratic style can be more damaging than good, but sometimes you have to get things done. Use more of a directing, authoritarian style in the following scenarios:

When a task is urgent and needs to be completed quickly, with little time for thought and planning

As in the Situational Leadership Model , use this style when skills are in short supply and people need to be guided through a task or tasks with clarity and structure.

where there is little margin for error.

When conditions are dangerous - rigid rules can keep people out of harm's way.

One thing to remember though; if your team are not skilled in specific tasks, don't resort to an authoritarian approach in the long term. Find ways to teach, coach and mentor them, so you can do more delegating and less directing.

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Authoritarian leadership is a leadership style in which the leader dictates and controls all decisions in the group and task. Often referred to as Autocratic leadership, authoritarian leadership is about control, organisation and discipline and while it still has a place in the leader's toolbox, it was regarded as the most prominent style almost one...

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Pros and Cons

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Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group.

Like other leadership styles, the autocratic style has both some benefits and some weaknesses. While those who rely on this approach to heavily are often seen as bossy or dictator-like, this level of control can have benefits and be useful in certain situations. When and where the authoritarian style is most useful can depend on factors such as the situation, the type of task the group is working on, and characteristics of the team members.

If you tend to utilize this type of leadership with a group, learning more about your style and the situations in which this style is the most effective can be helpful.

Some of the primary characteristics of autocratic leadership include:

Little or no input from group members

Leaders make almost all of the decisions

Group leaders dictate all the work methods and processes

Group members are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks

Work tends to be highly structured and very rigid

Creativity and out-of-the box thinking tend to be discouraged

Rules are important and tend to be clearly outlined and communicated

The autocratic style tend to sound quite negative. It certainly can be when overused or applied to the wrong groups or situations. However, autocratic leadership can be beneficial in some instances, such as when decisions need to be made quickly without consulting with a large group of people. Some projects require strong leadership to get things accomplished quickly and efficiently. When the leader is the most knowledgeable person in the group, the autocratic style can lead to fast and effective decisions.

So when does autocratic leadership work best?

The autocratic leadership style can be useful in the following instances:

It can be effective in small groups where leadership is lacking. Have you ever worked with a group of students or co-workers on a project that got derailed by poor organization, a lack of leadership and an inability to set deadlines? If so, the chances are that your grade or job performance suffered as a result. In such situations, a strong leader who utilizes an autocratic style can take charge of the group, assign tasks to different members, and establish solid deadlines for projects to be finished.

These types of group projects tend to work better when one person is either assigned the role of leader or simply takes on the job on their own. By setting clear roles, assigning tasks, and establishing deadlines, the group is more likely to finish the project on time and with everyone providing equal contributions.

It can also be used well in cases where a great deal of pressure is involved. In situations that are particularly stressful, such as during military conflicts, group members may prefer an autocratic style. This allows members of the group to focus on performing specific tasks without worrying about making complex decisions. This also allows group members to become highly skilled at performing certain duties, which is ultimately beneficial to the success of the entire group.

Manufacturing and construction work can also benefit from the autocratic style. In these situations, it is essential that each person have a clearly assigned task, a deadline, and rules to follow. Autocratic leaders tend to do well in these settings because they ensure that projects are finished on time and that workers follow safety rules to prevent accidents and injuries.

While autocratic leadership can be beneficial at times, there are also many instances where this leadership style can be problematic. People who abuse an autocratic leadership style are often viewed as bossy, controlling, and dictatorial. This can sometimes result in resentment among group members. Group members can end up feeling that they have no input or say in how things or done, and this can be particularly problematic when skilled and capable members of a team are left feeling that their knowledge and contributions are undermined.

Some common problems with autocratic leadership:

This style tends to discourage group input. Because autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting the group, people in the group may dislike that they are unable to contribute ideas. Researchers have also found that autocratic leadership often results in a lack of creative solutions to problems, which can ultimately hurt the group from performing.

Autocratic leaders tend to overlook the knowledge and expertise that group members might bring to the situation. Failing to consult with other team members in such situations hurts the overall success of the group.

Autocratic leadership can also impair the morale of the group in some cases. People tend to feel happier and perform better when they feel like they are making contributions to the future of the group. Since autocratic leaders typically do not allow input from team members, followers start to feel dissatisfied and stifled.

The autocratic style can be beneficial in some settings, but also has its pitfalls and is not appropriate for every setting and with every group. If this tends to be your dominant leadership style, there are things that you should consider whenever you are in a leadership role.

Listen to team members. You might not change your mind or implement their advice, but subordinates need to feel that they can express their concerns. Autocratic leaders can sometimes make team members feel ignored or even rejected, so listening to people with an open mind can help them feel like they are making an important contribution to the group's mission.

Establish clear rules. In order to expect team members to follow your rules, you need to first ensure that these guidelines are clearly established and that each person on your team is fully aware of them.

Provide the group with the knowledge and tools they need. Once your subordinates understand the rules, you need to be sure that they actually have the education and abilities to perform the tasks you set before them. If they need additional assistance, offer oversight and training to fill in this knowledge gap.

Be reliable. Inconsistent leaders can quickly lose the respect of their teams. Follow through and enforce the rules you have established.

Recognize success. Your team may quickly lose motivation if they are only criticized when they make mistakes but never rewarded for their successes.

While autocratic leadership does have some potential pitfalls, leaders can learn to use elements of this style wisely. For example, an autocratic style can be used effectively in situations where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group or has access to information that other members of the group do not. Instead of wasting valuable time consulting with less knowledgeable team members, the expert leader can quickly make decisions that are in the best interest of the group.

Autocratic leadership is often most effective when it is used for specific situations. Balancing this style with other approaches including democratic or transformational styles can often lead to better group performance.
Cragen, JF, Wright, DW, & Kasch, CR. Communication in Small Groups: Theory, Process, and Skills. Boston: Wadsworth; 2009. Daft, RL. The Leadership Experience. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning; 2015.

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What Are the Pros and Cons of Autocratic Leadership?

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Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a group.

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stagnaticity vs. mission paths

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For years we were taught that management has to do with forecasting, budgeting, planning and controlling. Managers were taught to manage, not to lead.

New supervisors and grizzled management veterans were taught how to assign work to subordinates, how to evaluate their teammates' work, how to counsel people on performance problems and how to hire and fire staff members. Everything we were taught about management assumed that the manager would know what to do and was calling the shots.

These days we understand that the old-fashioned view of a manager's duties is wholly insufficient for the new-millennium workplace.

Responsibility for a team of people and its success -- not to mention each team members' well-being and professional development -- is a big assignment to take on. Leadership has very little to do with controlling, budgeting and so on. It has little overlap with assigning work and evaluating it.

Our traditional view of management is task-based and mechanical. In that worldview, we don't think about topics like "How are my teammates holding up? Are they stressed out? Are they feeling good about the future and about the energy on the team?"

For years we pretended that human energy isn't a factor in a team's success, even though anybody who has ever been on any kind of team knows that the team energy, also known as trust level, is the whole ballgame!

We can use the carrot and the stick to get people to perform for a while but eventually, if they don't care about the mission, about their leader and/or about one another, the team will fracture and lose steam. It's inevitable! Today we know that empathetic, trust-based human leadership is not only the most effective way to lead a team but also the most profitable way to run a company.

Here are five enormous differences between managers and leaders. If you hold a leadership role now or aspire to do so in the future, think about steps you can take in each of these areas.
Mission
The traditional view of management assumes that a manager's job is to run an apparatus -- perhaps a corporate Credit Department or a team of programmers. There are clear inputs and outputs and expected results from the engine each manager is responsible for. The manager's job is to keep the machine running smoothly.

In that worldview, the people on the manager's team are essentially machine parts. They are interchangeable. Once they are hired into a role, their job is to perform that role (to run their piece of the machine) according to goals and standards that preceded them and that will outlast their tenure in the job. The presumption is that the machine is more important and more powerful than anyone who helps to run it.

Leadership takes just the opposite view! The energy on your team powers everything you will accomplish.

The machine can change whenever it makes sense to change it, even many times a day. Maybe your machine should change, or maybe it's time to junk the machine and invent something totally new. People are creative. Machines in general are not.

Leaders allow people to design their own jobs as much as possible and to put their own stamp on their jobs.

A leader is not working to achieve machine-like process perfection to be repeated over and over until the end of time.

A leader and his or her team have a mission. They all know what the mission is and they know their piece in it. Maybe at one point your mission is to replace your outdated Credit Department procedures with new procedures that are faster and simpler. Apart from the fact that they have a job and need the paycheck, your teammates know what the Credit Department modernization means for customers, for themselves and for the company.

A mission has a beginning, a middle and an end, no matter what the mission is. When you complete the mission, you'll start a new one.

Maybe your mission is to produce an off-Broadway play or to invent a better mousetrap. Leadership is inextricable from a specific mission that people are excited about. Without a mission, there is no place to lead your team toward! Without a mission, where are you headed?

Who can get excited about doing the same things day after day, year after year, to no visible end except to make a few executives rich? There has to be more to the mission than that, and part of a leader's job is to explore and exalt the connections between his or her team's mission and each team member's personal mission.

This is why I write about plugging into your power source at work, whether that means using a different part of your brain or getting to teach what you know or another element that important to you. We all need that power jolt at work. We all deserve it, too!
Self-Awareness
The old-fashioned, command-and-control view of management did not require that a manager look in the mirror, but leadership requires that activity of a leader every day.

A leader is someone who get outside his or her busy brain to see him- or herself rather than being controlled by his or her emotions, especially fear.

Fear is the emotion that makes managers freak out and bring the hammer down. It makes some of them yell at subordinates or put the fear of termination into them so that people skulk around in terror that they'll make a mistake.

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Management Vs. Leadership: Five Ways They Are Different

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For years we were taught that management has to do with forecasting, budgeting, planning and controlling. Managers were taught to manage, not to lead. New supervisors and grizzled management veterans were taught how to assign work to subordinates, how to evaluate their teammates' work, how to counsel people on performance problems and how to hire and fire staff members.

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When Michelle Andrews leaned over to talk to a disruptive 6th grader in her class, she says the student struck her in the face, causing Andrews' neck to snap backwards.

The 2015 incident was scary, and it also caused permanent nerve damage, said Andrews, who had been teaching for six years before the attack. The student was suspended for a week for disrespect toward a teacher-not for assault-and then returned to Andrews' classroom in Bridgeton, N.J.

When Andrews asked her principal to permanently remove the student from her classroom, she says the principal told her to "put on her big girl panties and deal with it." Instead, Andrews decided to press charges against the student-a move that she alleges led to her termination from the Bridgeton school district. Andrews sued the school board, claiming she had not been adequately protected after being injured, among other allegations.

She ended up settling for $197,500, but the incident left her shaken and depressed.

"I didn't know if I even wanted to go back into teaching after all that," she said. "I felt like I couldn't trust the system, I couldn't trust my administrators. I was afraid if something like this happened again, how I would react-fight or flight."

(For the school district's part, Superintendent Thomasina Jones said the settlement was reached on the advice of the insurance company, and the district conducts a thorough investigation into every incident of violent student behavior.)

What happened to Andrews isn't an isolated incident. In the 2015-16 school year, 5.8 percent of the nation's 3.8 million teachers were physically attacked by a student. Almost 10 percent were threatened with injury, according to federal education data.

Some teachers, like Andrews, may sue after they are attacked, and those lawsuits typically become high-profile news. But for the most part, teacher victimization has been an understudied and underpublicized area, experts say.

"It's a tough thing to study," said Dorothy Espelage, a professor of psychology at the University of Florida. "No one wants to talk about that teaching is a hazardous profession, that teachers are at risk when they're in the classroom."

While special educators are more frequently at risk because they work with children who might have severe behavioral issues, teachers of all subjects, of all grade levels, and from all types of schools are at risk for violence, Espelage said.

New research offers some insights on the teachers who are being attacked, and what those incidents can mean long term.

A recent study by Francis Huang, an assistant professor in the statistics, measurement, and evaluation in education program at the University of Missouri, analyzed 2011-12 federal education data to see what factors lead to teacher victimization. The analysis excluded special education teachers.

The study, published last year, found that female teachers were more likely to be attacked than male teachers. Teachers in schools with higher percentages of non-white students and higher levels of poverty were more likely to report being threatened or attacked-but Huang said the data didn't shed any light on the demographics of the students who attack teachers.

In addition, new teachers were more likely than experienced teachers to be threatened or attacked, the research showed.

Being attacked by a student can have serious consequences for teachers, said Byongook Moon, a professor in the criminal justice department at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Moon has received two grants over the last couple years from the National Institute of Justice to research teacher victimization.

Almost 44 percent of teachers who had been the victims of physical assault said the attacks had a negative impact on their job performance, according to a study Moon conducted of 1,600 teachers. Nearly 30 percent said they could no longer trust the student, and 27 percent said they thought of quitting their teaching career afterwards.

Student Consequences

In recent years, state legislators across the country have shown interest in reducing teacher victimization. However, bills proposed in the area have at times aimed to increase punitive measures toward students-a tack that rarely receives unified support among the education community.

For example, a bill currently going through the Wisconsin legislature, deemed the Teacher Protection Act, would, among other things, allow teachers to remove a student from their classroom for a maximum of two days. Generally, school administrators decide whether to suspend students, but the bill would let teachers ask the school board to suspend students who attacked them, if administrators deny their request. The bill would also require police to report violent incidents by students off-campus to their schools.

The bill's author, Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, is a Republican who chairs the Wisconsin State Assembly's education committee and was a teacher for more than two decades. He said he proposed the bill after seeing local media reports of teachers being assaulted and hearing that schools were reducing the number of suspensions and expulsions.

When students don't have consequences, he said in an interview, they're "being put in control of the classroom. ... We're putting teachers in the midst of a social justice experiment."

Critics of the legislation have said that it could contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, especially for students with disabilities, students of color, and students who have already experienced trauma.

"Wisconsin suspends black students at higher rates than any other state in the country," state Rep. Chris Taylor, a Democrat, wrote in an essay, adding that this bill would be "devastating" for those students.

And while critics worry that the bill will cause teachers to treat students differently if they know their arrest records, Thiesfeldt said that provision is necessary to ensure teacher safety.

"It's unfair to stick a teacher in a situation where you have a child in the classroom who was arrested for a violent misdemeanor in the past 24 to 48 hours, and all of a sudden, that child is right before you in the classroom, and you have no idea-it's unfair," Thiesfeldt said. Even so, he will consider amendments to the bill to make sure students with special needs aren't unduly punished.

Other bills that proposed harsher punishment for students who assaulted teachers have not been successful: In North Carolina, a bill proposed in 2015 would have made students 16 and older guilty of a felony if they assaulted a teacher. The bill was opposed by children's advocacy and disability rights groups.

"Branding a young person as a felon decreases their chances of continuing education and employment opportunities and increases their chances of eventually spending time in state custody," wrote two advisors of Youth Justice North Carolina (which is now called the Youth Justice Project), in a 2015 blog post opposing the bill.

And in Minnesota, a bill introduced in 2016 would have required school boards to automatically expel a student who threatened or inflicted bodily harm on a teacher for up to a year. There have been multiple incidents of attacks against Minnesota teachers in the past few years-including a 2015 incident in St. Paul in which a high school student slammed a teacher into a concrete wall and then began to strangle him. The teacher ended up with a traumatic brain injury.

Still, the bill received fierce opposition from educators and was stopped in committee. Instead, the state teachers' union, Education Minnesota, is putting its energy toward promoting restorative practices to handle student discipline. Restorative practice is an increasingly popular approach in schools that says students need to take responsibility for their actions and work to right a wrong, rather than be punished under "zero-tolerance" policies.

"Restorative practice, in its simplest form, [says that] hurt people hurt people," said Becky McCammon, the restorative practice program coordinator for the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and the St. Paul district, which has committed to piloting this work in a maximum of 12 schools over three years.

In one elementary school, she said, this means that when a student's emotions begin to run high, he or she can go to the school's "green room" to take a break and de-escalate the budding conflict-there's a place to do yoga, a punching bag, and a school leader who's trained in restorative practice to talk to.

Meanwhile, in one of the district's high schools this year, a student who was in the midst of a mental-health crisis physically harmed some educators. Afterwards, the educators met with the union president, school leaders, and members from the community to discuss what happened and how that kind of incident could be prevented in the future, McCammon said.

Sending a Signal

Researchers say that legislation might not be the best place to start to tackle the problem of teacher victimization. Instead, they say, teacher training and administrative support are key.

"Mainstream teachers rarely get training on how to de-escalate violence in the classroom," said Espelage, the University of Florida professor. "Some of the training we give to special ed. teachers, I think we need to give to all teachers."

She said there are simple tactics that a teacher can use to reduce the possibility of violence, from managing her tone and demeanor toward a student to understanding trauma.

Huang's study also found that teachers who feel supported by their administrators and think that their colleagues enforce the rules consistently are less likely to be victims of threats or attacks.

"If a teacher feels like the administrator has his or her back, this might send a signal-teachers might feel more protected, cared for, and enabled by the school administration," said the University of Missouri professor. "The students who victimize teachers might think, 'Oh, I can't get away with this.' It might be a deterrent."

On the flip side, if teachers and students see that a principal won't back up a teacher when a student misbehaves, "that might weaken the teacher and it might embolden the student at the same time," Huang said.

These days, Andrews, the N.J. teacher who was attacked, teaches in a private alternative school where she works with students who have behavioral issues.

"I love where I'm teaching because, for once, I'm in a school where there's definitive rules in place, there's support from everyone I work with, support from my administrators," she said. "I feel safer in my classroom now."

Published in Print: February 14, 2018, as When Students Assault Teachers, Effects Linger

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When Students Assault Teachers, Effects Can Be Lasting

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When Michelle Andrews leaned over to talk to a disruptive 6th grader in her class, she says the student struck her in the face, causing Andrews' neck to snap backwards. The 2015 incident was scary, and it also caused permanent nerve damage, said Andrews, who had been teaching for six years before the attack.

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an alternative to zero tolerance policies and punitive punishment

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Charismatic Versus Transformational Leadership Attributes of a Leader purposeful driven charismatic powerful orator knows how to govern empathetic Charismatic Leadership According to German sociologist, Max Weber, who completed a study on political obligation, a charismatic leader displays three important qualities (Martin, 2016): psychological dimension social aspect relational dimension Be Careful!

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"Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people." - Lee Iacocca

You've probably met a person who oozed of charisma. The almost-indescribable characteristic is something we associate with other leaders, while we consider some people simply lacking it. More often than not, charismatic leaders are considered powerful orators with a clear vision.

But what is charismatic leadership about? In this guide, we'll explore the theories that gave birth to this leadership style from Weber to House. We'll also look at the core elements of charismatic leadership theory and analyze the characteristics leaders need to possess in order to be considered charismatic. Finally, we'll explore the advantages and disadvantages of the style before examining a few examples of the style.

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT CONTEXT OF CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

Charisma is a trait often associated with leaders and the world is full of examples of people being described as charismatic leaders. The term charismatic comes from the ancient Greek word charis, which means grace, kindness and life. Charismatic people are considered as graceful and virtuous. The idea of using one's charisma and influence in order to lead is not a new way of looking at leadership, although the theories around it are rather recent.

In this section, we'll explore the idea of charismatic leadership through its past and present contexts.

The historical context

The idea of a strong and noble leader, who relies on personal characteristics, has been present in history. People have attributed and associated great personalities with the ability to rule in a good manner ever since the dawn of time.

In terms of crafting a proper leadership theory, the two biggest influencing theories behind charismatic theory have been developed by Max Weber and Robert J. House.

Max Weber's charismatic leadership

The charismatic theory's driving force is Max Weber's study on political obligation. The German sociologist explored the reasons people follow authority and the findings were published posthumously in 1922 in Economy and Society.

Weber moved away from the classical thinking that authority is achieved through the three routes:

Self-interest - You obey for material or economic gain

Fear - You follow the rules because you don't want the punishment

Habit - You obey simply out of the socialization of authority

Instead, Weber thought people follow a leader or a state because they evaluate the authority and perceive it good, right or just form of power. Therefore, the leader's legitimacy is subjective to each subordinate.

From the above ideas, Weber distinguished three models of legitimate leadership, summed up in the below image:

Weber's idea of charisma was value-free and more about the appearance of charisma rather than making specific value judgments. He writes in the book how charisma " knows no formal and regulated appointment or dismissal, no career, advancement, or salary, no supervisory or appeals body, no local or purely technical jurisdiction, and no permanent institutions in the manner of bureaucratic agencies ". Charismatic leaders are almost savior like and people follow them as they are perceived to put things right.

Charismatic leadership relies on three components in Weber's theory. There is the psychological dimension, which refers to the inner qualities of the leader. Weber talks about the trait being a "gift" of the leader, claiming it could be either a divine trait or a specific physical or mental state of being. But since charisma to Weber, is value-free and created by the subordinates' assumptions, there is no detailed explanation on the origins of charisma.

The second dimension is about the social aspect. Charismatic leadership might not stem purely out of one's inner being, but have a social source. This could be the cultural influence of society, family, work or even education. Charisma essentially takes on a traditional form and legitimizes its source. The impersonal nature of charisma implies that it can be taught, according to Weber.

Finally, Weber's theory also has a relational dimension between the leader and the subordinate. According to Weber, charisma is the " affectual relationship between leader and followers developing as the historical product of the interaction between person and situation ". A leader has to prove his or her worth and the charisma in order to continue to enjoy legitimacy. Charismatic leadership is therefore relational because the subordinates can withdraw their support, leading the leader without legitimacy to rule.

Interestingly, Weber's charismatic leader carried its own demise and the legitimate authority of a charismatic leader was something he didn't think could last. This was because it changed the system it was operating in and removed the traditional justification of authority around it. According to Weber, charismatic leadership would be hard to routinize and therefore, it created succession issues in organizations or the state.

Interested in learning why we as humans are prone to falling for charismatic leaders? Watch this TED talk.

Robert J. House's charismatic leadership

Weber's ideas of charismatic leadership were theoretical and the conversation that followed around the topic tended to be speculative in nature. In 1976, Robert J. House published his working paper A 1976 theory of charismatic leadership, which aimed to move the theory to a more testable concept. House moved the charismatic leadership theory more towards a psychological explanation, rather than a sociological or political science theory of power.

House's main argument was that charismatic leadership is rooted in personal and behavioral characteristics and the leaders with these qualities can inspire subordinates through appropriate articulation of the organizational vision. Therefore, it follows the similar notion of Weber that charismatic leaders don't receive authority out of fear or financial gain, but out of emotional excitement.

To communicate the vision to subordinates, charismatic leaders need to showcase high levels of self-confidence, dominance, influence and strong conviction. Furthermore, certain situational and organization factors can help boost the leadership's appearance. These assumptions and characteristics will be discussed further in the following sections.

The main takeaway from House's theory is that charismatic leadership should not be defined solely in terms of the effects it has on followers. Instead, House looked more towards the behaviors and the situational factors that influence the effectiveness of charismatic leaders.

The modern context

The above two theories have largely shaped the conversation around charismatic leadership, providing the theory with context and testable characteristics. The two theories, along with other research on the leadership model, have revived the trait-based approach to leadership.

Since charismatic leadership is linked with personal traits and the transformation of subordinates, the current conversation around the model often links it with transformational leadership theory. Both of these theories seek radical changes around the organizational structure they operate in, yet there are certain important differences between the two.

While charisma can improve the effectiveness of leadership, transformational leaders don't necessarily have to be perceived as charismatic in order to rule efficiently. Furthermore, transformational leadership always has change at the heart of it, whereas charismatic leadership might not be interested in changing the operational structure of the organization.

Nonetheless, in current literature, charismatic leadership has assumed a more benevolent approach to leadership. Instead of focusing on a strong moral conviction and the personality traits of the leader, the inclusion of transformational elements has added a behavior element to the theory.

Aside from linking charismatic leadership with other leadership styles, such as transformational and inspirational leadership, the focus has also moved even more towards the emotional, inspirational and symbolic aspects of the leadership's ability to influence. In 2007, J. C. Pastor, M. Mayo and B. Shamir's research found the emotional responses of the subordinates influence the perception of the leader as charismatic. Furthermore, it isn't purely about the leader's apparent qualities, but the characteristics of the subordinates can influence how effective charismatic leaders are.

Ronald E. Riggio, PhD and professor of leadership and organizational psychology, summed up the current idea of charismatic leadership well in his 2012 article. Riggio defined charismatic leaders as " individuals who are both verbally eloquent, but also able to communicate to followers on a deep, emotional level. " Charismatic leadership is about creating a vision and captivating people emotionally with the message.

THE CORE ELEMENTS OF CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

The above touched on the context and approach to charismatic leadership. It's now time to consider the core elements of the leadership model and how they drive the above ideas forward.

Organizational and situational assumptions

House's 1976 essay on charismatic leadership outlined key assumptions regarding the leadership model. The assumptions rely on the idea that charismatic leadership relies on the behavioral, situational and organizational factors.

First, charismatic leadership requires the leader to showcase behaviors, which create an impression of competence and success. In short, the leadership requires a strong goal articulation. D. Berlew wrote in Leadership and Organization Excitement in 1974 that, " The first requirement for...charismatic leadership is a common or shared vision for what the future could be." A good example of this would be Martin Luther Kings, " I have a dream ". The speech and idea provided subordinates a vision of the future, the leader would want them to accomplish together. According to House, the goal articulation is more often about ideology rather than pragmatism.

For successful goal articulation to appear, a charismatic leadership theory requires the use of motive arousal. This means the goal and vision put forward by the leader must create an emotional appeal and spark off the right type of motivational response. House points out to the example of military leaders, who use authoritarian symbolism and images of the enemy in order to excite the followers. He gives the example of the US military leader, Patton, who addressed recruits " against the background of a large American flag, and dressed with medals of his accomplishments and wearing a shining helmet displaying the four stars indicating the status of general. "

The motive arousal aspect of charismatic leadership requires an understanding and an analysis of the task and the subordinates' need for achievement, affiliation and power. The effectiveness to accomplish tasks can therefore be manipulated by the leader's ability to arouse the right motives. House summarized studies, which had found the following assumptions:

Assumption of calculated risks

Achievement oriented initiative

Assumption of personal responsibility

Persistence toward challenging goals

The need for achievement

Being persuasive

Asserting influence

Exercising control over others

Being competitive or combative

The need for power

Affiliative behavior

Cohesiveness

Team work

Peer support

The need for affiliation

Finally, charismatic leadership requires specific situational determinants. For Weber, charismatic leadership is born out of a stressful situation. The vision outlined by the leader is likely something difficult or impossible to achieve, yet which creates the right motive arousal in leaders, enforcing the idea of the charismatic leader as the 'savior'. An example could be Mahatma Ghandi in India during the Indian independence movement. In a business environment a failing company might benefit from a charismatic leader who creates a vision of a better future for subordinates.

But stressful disasters are not the only situational determinant charismatic leadership can use as an advantage. Edward Shils' 1965 paper Charisma, Order, and Status identified the formal institutions of society, with large amounts of power, being something that could be perceived charismatic. In essence, the idea of the "awe-inspiring quality of power" can integrate a vision and therefore, become seen as charismatic.

Behavioral assumptions

For the above characteristics of charismatic leadership to work efficiently, the behavior of the leader must be aligned with the assumptions. Charismatic leadership model emphasizes the behavioral assumptions as the key.

As mentioned in the previous section, House outlined the four qualities of a charismatic leader. These were:

Dominant

Strong desire to influence others.

Self-confident.

Strong sense of one's own moral values.

Interestingly, charismatic leaders are not just interested or relying on showcasing the above qualities themselves, but rather they behave in a way that supports role-modeling behavior. Essentially this means charismatic leadership wants subordinates to adopt the behaviour of the leader.

Role-modeling has been shown by studies to have a strong effect on influencing other people. An authoritative figure can get subjects to administer pain to other people and people can adopt biased or racist attitudes from leaders. But naturally, role-modeling could be used for positive change and behavior as well. In a corporate environment, role-modeling could work as a method of improving employee motivation. According to House's analysis, " leaders can have an effect on the values (or valences) subordinates' attach to the outcomes of their effort as well as their expectations ".

From the above idea follows another crucial behavioral aspect of the charismatic leader. The leader should focus on engaging in behaviors, which create the impression of competence and success. Weber mentioned in his book how charismatic leaders are required to prove their power to the subordinates. While accomplishments are generally the easiest way to do this, the idea of appearance will also help charismatic leaders. This appearance assumption links closely with the above idea of goal articulation.

A very nice chat around how to become a better leader.

The best way to create the impression is often through high expectations and strong self-confidence. Studies have shown your self-esteem level and the expectation of being able to achieve a goal relate to motivation and goal attainment. In charismatic leadership, the leader has a role of improving the subordinate's self-esteem in order to improve organizational effectiveness.

A leader must not only set high-expectations, but also show confidence in the subordinate's ability to get things done. The behavioral assumption is associated with the above motive arousal. As shown earlier, specific tasks require the leader to use specific motivational influences in order to get the best out of subordinates. Furthermore, House drew two hypotheses out of the assumptions:

If leaders set specific and high expectations, then the goals of subordinates are clearer.

If the leader shows more confidence in the subordinate's ability to achieve those goals, then the person will perceive them more attainable.

Therefore, charismatic leadership works most efficiently when leaders are able to instill confidence and self-esteem to subordinates, which means subordinates are more inclined to achieve objectives and thus trust the leader further.

THE QUALITIES OF CHARISMATIC LEADER

Since charismatic leadership is heavily focused on the behaviour and personality of the leader, it comes as no surprise that the qualities and traits required of a charismatic leader are at the centre of the theory. We've already touched upon some of the traits through House's theory (dominant, self-confident, self-assured and strong conviction), but further research has identified other characteristics as well.

After examining the key traits of a charismatic leader, we'll also consider the steps you should take if you'd like to use this leadership model.

The key characteristics

In 1988, Jay Conger and Rabindra Kanungo published Charismatic Leadership, which outlined the key characteristics of a charismatic leader. The findings have been repeatedly shown to be accurate in a number of other similar studies, such as Robert House and Jane Howell's 1992 paper Personality and Charismatic Leadership.

One thing charismatic leadership emphasizes is the nature of your charisma. While it might seem charisma is a 'natural' quality you either have or don't have, the reality is that many charismatic qualities can be learned and reinforced.

#1 Visionary

Martin Luther King dreamt of a society where everyone is equal, Gandhi wanted different religions to live in peace in India and Sir Winston Churchill wanted the British to stay resilient during the war. Every charismatic leader has a vision - they are able to look beyond the horizon and imagine a different way of doing things. Obviously, it doesn't mean everyone has to imagine a society-wide change or movement, but you have to have a vision of what you want to achieve or what you want the organization you lead to accomplish.

Being a visionary means being open to chance and understanding that constant improvement is required for progress. You need to embark on a road of self-improvement, where you are constantly looking to expand your skills and learning things beyond your comfort zone. In addition, you need to listen to other people and understand how their experiences have shaped them. If you can combine your understanding of the world, with the experiences of others, you can visualise new solutions and approaches to solving things.

Visionary people are both dreamers and doers. You want to spend enough time thinking about the world and the problems you face. But you don't want to be caught daydreaming, while other people fix the problems.

This video shows you how to develop your vision statement and inspire your subordinates.

#2 Articulate

Charismatic people are good communicators. In order to get people on your side - to understand your vision and to believe in it - you have to be able to share the message loud and clear. If you aren't articulate, your subordinates won't be able to understand what you are envisioning.

There are two key aspects of articulation in terms of charismatic leadership. First, it simply means being a better communicator and being able to talk about complex issues to people in a way they understand. In the business world, the key is to explain the why, the how, and the when. You need to explain the reason or the vision behind the action, clarify what is needed in order to get to the objective and ensure people know how fast this all should be accomplished.

But the second aspect of articulation and communication relates to the understanding of your subordinates. Charismatic leadership requires you to be able to read people and select the right motivations for inspiring them. Therefore, you need to be able to analyze your audience and select the right communication style for each occasion.

If you'd like to improve your own communication abilities, especially in terms of getting your message across, watch the below YouTube clip. On it, Julian Treasure explains how to speak in a way that ensures people listen.

#3 Sensitive

Charismatic leaders must be sensitive, both in reading people's emotions and ambitions, but also in showing them compassion and empathy. As mentioned above, you must be able to sense the other person's expectations and needs in order to properly approach them with your vision. In short, you need to be able to sense the mood and be able to adjust to it.

In addition, you must also show humility and compassion. When you listen to people, you need to convince them you are there to help and you understand what the person is saying. Even if you can't do what the person might want you to do, you need to be able to convince them to work in a specific way and make them feel like its their best interest as well.

The charismatic leader who can show compassion towards subordinates is the leader that gets people on his or her side. Since you require subordinates to buy into your vision, you need to show respect and empathy towards them. People follow leaders who make them feel good and important, instead of someone who doesn't listen to them.

#4 Risk-taker

Just as you need to be a visionary, you must be willing to take risks as well. Because you are trying to obtain a visionary goal, something transformative and different, you won't have a paved out road ahead of you. In order to accomplish great things, charismatic leadership requires you to put yourself on the line.

Risk-taking means two things. First, as a leader, you are accountable for any problems that might arise. You aren't afraid to step out of the way if things don't work out and you won't try to place the blame elsewhere.

But in addition, you aren't afraid of challenges either. You understand that each challenge will bring about positive things, whether or not you accomplish what you set out to do. You are ready to give it your best shot because you can see the rewards of accomplishing things, while realizing failure isn't the end of the world.

In business, risk-taking isn't the same as gambling. Risk-takers don't just rush into things and hope for the best and neither do charismatic leaders. You understand the importance of analyzing tasks and the options ahead of you, but you are willing to take calculated risks if the situation calls for it.

Listen to Stephen Kelly (CEO of Sage) on what he has to say on taking smart risks.

#5 Creative

Finally, charismatic leaders tend to be creative. In order to be more visionary, you naturally need a healthy dose of creativity. You must be able to think outside of the box in order to create meaningful change in the organization.

Creativity is further linked to the charismatic leadership's idea of strong conviction. You need to be able to speak with conviction - meaning that you need to use creative images, rhetoric and messaging in order to get others to buy into your vision.

If you'd like to improve your ability to be more creative and to stand out from the crowd, you should try these five scientifically proven tips ( BBC Science):

Change how you do things - Altering your daily routines can help you because more innovative.

Removing distractions - You should try to create an environment around you which doesn't have distractions - visual or audio -.

Spend time on mundane tasks - You can spark your creative mind by engaging in tasks, which require less thinking.

Improvising and taking risks - Risk-taking can boost creativity together with improvisation. If you can play an instrument or you like drawing, spend some time doing it without an objective in mind.

Allowing your mind to wander - You shouldn't be afraid to just sit around and allow your mind to think freely.

How to become a charismatic leader

One thing charismatic leadership emphasizes is the nature of your charisma. While it might seem charisma is a 'natural' quality you either have or don't have, the reality is that many charismatic qualities can be learned and reinforced. Joyce Newman, president of the Newman Group, told in a Forbes interview, " We are not born charismatic - we cultivate it in many ways". Furthermore, Joyce pointed out that becoming charismatic is a "trial and error process" and " once you have your charismatic status, you can lose it ".

In his 1989 book The Charismatic Leader: Behind the Mystique of Exceptional Leadership, Jay Conger proposed a four-step model for charismatic leadership. The model is a good guide for anyone looking to improve his or her charismatic leader characteristics.

Step 1: Regularly assessing your vision and the environment for achieving it

First, you need to create a vision, which fits the current environment. If you are working in an organization, you want to understand where the company is heading and where it could be heading with a new vision. You must understand the different parts making the vision a reality, such as what type of employees do you need, what must the organization focus on and who might be able to help you out.

Once you have formulated a vision and a framework for achieving the vision, you need to outline to others. But even after the vision is out in the open, you need to have the clarity to keep assessing your environment to ensure the vision is attainable. While you might not change the end objective, you might need to adjust the framework on how you get to the goal

Step 2: Improving your ability to communicate this vision

You need to be able to articulate your vision to the subordinates and other stakeholders in a clear and concise manner. The above points on characteristics should give you tips on improving your communication skills. But there are two other strategies you need to focus on: motive arousal and persuasive language.

In order for subordinates to buy into your vision, you need to find what motivates them to perform the required tasks. Notice that in an organization, different people might find different motives appealing. For example, the idea of more power might appeal to middle management who are driven and ambitious. On the other hand, employees with less motivation and ambition might find a vision of financial gain as motivating

Your language must be persuasive. Again, understanding the person's motivations help, but you also need to utilize role-modeling for inspiring the person to act. Setting an example can act as a powerful motivator for subordinates.

Step 3: Creating a trustworthy and committed environment

Coercion is not an effective part of charismatic leadership. Instead, you should focus on building relationships that are based on trust. This can lead to the creation of a committed environment where subordinates are inspired to work hard towards the goals.

You need to be able to ensure the vision you've set out is viable. This means you need to be accountable for the actions the organization takes, you must be willing to take risks and you need to showcase high levels of expertise. These will help you create more trust, not only in your vision, but also on yourself as a leader.

Step 4: Achieving the objectives

The final step is about achieving the vision you have set out using the chore tactics of charismatic leadership. This includes role-modeling and empowering your subordinates with motive arousal. Charismatic leadership provides the ideas and tools to lead people, but it also understands the differences in the situations. Therefore, achieving the vision is the key, not following a rigid set of rules in order to get there.

Finally, watch the below TEDx talk by John Antonakis on the topic of why charisma matters in today's world.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

Charismatic leadership is among the leadership theories that can be both a blessing and a curse to an organization. A strong vision with emotional influences can be a force for positive change, such as the example of Martin Luther King's civil rights movement, but it can lead to darkness as well.

Advantages of charismatic leadership

As mentioned above, charismatic leadership can at its best, be an inspirational style to lead. A successful, charismatic leader is able to create a vision, which attract subordinates to the cause. The ability to motivate and empower people through this vision can eventually lead to more success.

Consider an example of a failing business. A charismatic leader can utilize the tools of charismatic leadership and create a vision of an organization that leads the industry. The message of the better future, and the confidence the leader shows towards subordinates can guarantee the employers are motivated to work together towards these goals. As the examples and research data above shows, the right type of motivation and vision can boost people's ability to get the job done more effectively.

Furthermore, the shared vision provides another big advantage of the theory: better workplace cohesion. Since everyone in the organization is aware of the same mission and objectives, everyone is essentially working to achieve the same goal. No one is gaining anything more, as the motivation isn't about punishments or financial gains - rather; the whole company shares the same objective. Knowing that everyone is essentially looking forward to the same achievement can create a stronger sense of togetherness and unity.

The visionary way to lead can lead to better results because it ignites people's passion. It's hard to be a charismatic leader without strong convictions and therefore, the leader is passionate about getting things done. As many entrepreneurs tend to say, "it's the passion that gets you up every morning". In addition to the passionate approach to doing things, charismatic leadership also encourages risk-taking and thinking outside of the box. Together, these qualities can drive change in an organization and have a meaningful impact on the operational efficiency of the company.

Since the emphasis is on achieving the objectives and working towards the shared goal, charismatic leadership tends to flourish learning behavior. Mistakes are not used for punishment and disasters are not shrugged under the carpet. Instead, charismatic leaders and therefore the subordinates examine the mistakes and learn from them in order to move forward. For a business, learning from past mistakes is a crucial part of avoiding the issue second time around.

The clarity in the objectives and vision are especially beneficial in situations where a company might be facing a crisis. As House and Weber argued in their theories, charismatic leadership works especially well in crises. If work morale is low and the company is lacking direction, a strong, charismatic leader can provide the organization a needed boost and positive vision for the future. The focus on individuals and their self-esteem will also provide an instant boost in employee morale.

Overall, the above can boost employee moral and productivity. The workplace can become a more invigorating and exciting place to be, with the possibility of larger social change on the horizon. The company's profitability, productivity and longevity can therefore improve.

Disadvantages of charismatic leadership

But as we briefly mentioned at the start of the section, charismatic leadership is not always transformational in a positive manner. The vision, envisaged by the charismatic leader, is not always universally positive and in the darkest examples of the human history, it can be deadly. If you consider the essence of charismatic leadership - dominance, confidence, strong convictions and the ability to get followers on your side - then one example of charismatic leader from history could be Adolf Hitler. He was able to paint a vision of a future for people, which they took at face value.

Unlike ethical leadership, charismatic leadership doesn't make judgments on whether the vision is good or sustainable. Therefore, there isn't much room for inner moral conflicts within the leadership theory. The problem is that a charismatic leader might be driven by self-interest or poor judgment, instead of showcasing values that cherish other people's wellbeing.

In a less-sinister manner, charismatic leadership can slip into arrogance or tunnel vision. The leader, along with his or her followers, can simply focus on the vision, without re-evaluating or re-examining its validity or attainability. For an organisation, this could be devastating, as resources might be better spent in a different manner.

Since charismatic leadership doesn't work without the support of subordinates, the obedience levels of subordinates can go on unchallenged. In essence, this means the leadership model's apparent strength can simply be down to "yes-men" around the leader. Instead of questioning or challenging the leader's ideas, subordinates merely follow the orders.

Finally, charismatic leadership is based on the relationship between the leader and his or her subordinates. If, and when, the leader moves on from the organization, the company might suffer consequently because a strong leadership base disappears with him or her. The organization either needs a new charismatic leader, who has to spend time establishing his or her relationship with the subordinates, or implement a wholly new leadership structure into the organization. As the subordinates have based their trust in the vision of the charismatic leader, there is no leadership development within the organization to guarantee the next generation of leaders are able to take over.

EXAMPLES OF CHARISMATIC LEADERS

As mentioned in the previous sections, charismatic leadership has plenty of historic examples in a range of fields. There are the political examples of Martin Luther King and the other extreme example of Hitler. But you also have charismatic leaders in the field of social justice and business.

The below examples will hopefully outline the characteristics of charismatic leaders and the ideas of the model in a tangible manner.

Mother Theresa

Mother Theresa might not be a conventional example of a leader, but she perfectly fits the definition of a charismatic leader. Mother Theresa, who was born in Macedonia, became a Roman Catholic nun and started working with the poor.

She left her teaching position at the St. Mary's School for Girls in 1946 in order to start serving the poor in the slums of Calcutta. In the 1950s and 1960s, she established different facilities in the slums to help the poor survive disease and malnutrition. Later, she also opened charities elsewhere in the world - all helping the poor.

Mother Theresa was dedicated to a single cause and she had a vision to help the lives of those that don't have much. She inspired others to follow her example and she dedicated her life to empowering the less fortunate. In essence, she showed what good charismatic leadership could achieve.

Mother Theresa once said, " I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. " This highlights one of the important parts of charismatic leadership: having others following you. Without the followers buying into your vision, you won't succeed as a leader.

Charles Manson

But as we've mentioned above, charismatic leadership is not always a force for good. For all the world's Mother Theresas, there are examples of leaders who've used their charisma for doing bad. Charles Manson is one such example.

In 1969, the US uncovered a cult called The Family, when the police found nine bodies in Los Angeles. The cult's leader was a charismatic Charles Mansion who had managed to captivate the attention of young girls, only to end up killing them.

Interestingly, Manson's leadership skills and charismatic nature wasn't just natural characteristics. He did, in fact, take a course on leadership and self-improvement during his time in prison. His ability to manipulate and influence people came from a highly popular book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Manson used the learned techniques of promising people things, boosting their confidence just slightly and creating a vision of the better future, where he was the only saviour. Unfortunately for the world, his vision was dark and involved taking the lives of innocent people. He took proven leadership qualities and turned them into a sinister manipulation. Yet, his example shows how charismatic leadership works when it's efficient.

To find out more about Dale Carnegie's book and its message, check out the below Slideshare presentation, which summarizes the ideas in the book. Despite the bad press, the book is still one of the best in the field of leadership and worth reading if you'd like to improve your communication with other people.

Jack Welch / General Electric

Charismatic leaders have also appeared in the business world. General Electric's (GE) CEO Jack Welch is a good example of a charismatic leader. Welch had a sporting background and he used the lessons he learned as an athlete during his time in business.

After graduating from college, Welch found himself working as a chemical engineer at GE in 1960. In 1981, he became the company's youngest CEO. His approach to his position as a CEO was about creating personal and meaningful relationships. He met with the employees and the customers, talking with them to create a positive atmosphere.

Nonetheless, his charismatic leadership style didn't mean he avoided working towards the vision. He didn't hesitate to cut costs, even if it meant laying off employees, because his ultimate vision was about creating a valuable and respectful business. He wanted to create an organization that would beat its rivals and in order to do this, he had to weed out mediocrity from his company. While this meant certain people had to go, it also improved the company's communication, its development and ultimately its bottom line.

In a telling quote, Jack Welch once said, " The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important - and then get out of their way while they do it. " The idea sums nicely the essence of charismatic leadership and especially the idea of the motive arousal.

Steve Jobs / Apple

Finally, another example of a highly charismatic leader in the business world is the late Steve Jobs. Whilst Jobs was not universally liked as a leader, he was effective and persuasive - he even got the people who didn't really like him to continue working for him.

Jobs clearly highlighted strong conviction and vision. He wanted particularly designed products, often forcing the designing team to great lengths to achieve it. He kept mentioning his key objectives and ideas in almost all of his speeches and ensured everyone in the company knew what the vision was.

Furthermore, Jobs didn't just apply a single communication tactic with his subordinates. He changed his rhetoric and figurative language according to the audience. Just as a charismatic leader would in order to find the right motive for his or her followers to participate in the vision, he was able to sense what his crowd wanted and needed from him. A study into Jobs' use of rhetoric, Loizos Heracleous and Laura Klaering from the Warwick Business School found leaders could take advantage of Jobs' skills and " employ them to increase followers' belief in their charisma as well as their effectiveness as a persuasive speaker ".

Jobs used different images and examples as part of his discussion. For example, IBM was the evil player in the game, while Apple would come and save the day - you can see the charismatic vision and motive arousal working for his favour.

Below is a clip of Steve Jobs' biographer, Walter Isaacson, talking about Jobs' leadership style:

FINAL THOUGHTS

Charismatic leadership is another trait-based leadership theory, which emphasizes the leader's ability to convince the subordinates to work towards a specific vision. It's often related to other leadership theories, especially since it relies on personal characteristics of the leader. But it is a powerful theory on its own and charismatic leaders can help create lasting changes in an organization.

The framework for charismatic leadership focuses on conviction, communication and commitment. You need to develop a strong vision and be able to motivate other people to follow you. Your qualities as a leader and your ability to create meaningful relationships with your subordinates are the carrying forces of charismatic leadership, not any specific process or structure of the organization.

Since charismatic leaders are willing to take risks and look beyond the horizon, they can have a positive impact on an organization or society. Unfortunately, the leader doesn't necessarily need to follow a strong moral or ethical vision. History has shown us that charismatic leaders can lead subordinates astray and cause havoc while working towards their vision.

Nonetheless, the leadership theory can be an effective way to motivate people and improve the way an organization operates.

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Charismatic Leadership Guide: Definition, Qualities, Pros & Cons, Examples

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"Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people." - Lee Iacocca You've probably met a person who oozed of charisma.

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kendra cherry transformational leadership - Google Search

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Dr. Kendra Cherry mentioned a trait "Individualized consideration" that is a subcomponent of transformational leadership, which is translated as "ability to offer support and encouragement to individual followers." How does one go about doing this effectively? What do individuals need from their leaders to feel this support ...

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Daniel Goleman's mindfullness website.

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Daniel Goleman, twice a Pulitzer prize nominee, is the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence and Healing Emotions. Goleman lectures frequently to business audiences, professional groups, and on college campuses. A psychologist who for many years reported on the brain and behavioral...