A short live-stream transcript of TJ Walker explaining that charisma is not an innate trait but a learnable public-speaking skill. He argues that many leaders considered charismatic became so by practicing presentation and communication skills, and encourages viewers to practice speaking (e.g., recording videos on Facebook or YouTube) to develop charisma.
Chapters
What is charisma and how do you get it? That's a question I hear a lot. Let me tell you. I've worked with some dynamic leaders all over the world. Presidents of countries, prime ministers, United States senators, members of parliament on many continents. And many of these people are considered to be charismatic by their voters, people in their communities and their countries. Let me share with you a little secret. None of these people consider themselves naturally charismatic. And when these people were younger, earlier in their careers, nobody thought they were charismatic. I believe, frankly, there is almost nothing that is true. Charisma. Charisma is a shorthand we use to describe someone who is a good public speaker. Now some of you are scratching your head saying, well, T.J. that's not right. Those are different skills. Here's my challenge for you. I want you to think of a politician, a political leader perhaps way back in history, whom you respect, but not so far back that you wouldn't have seen video of them. Someone in the last hundred years, a political leader you like, you admire, you respect. And people say that person has charisma. Isn't that person a great public speaker? Think of someone you respect but is considered to be a horrible public speaker. Is that person considered charismatic? I bet not. So that's the real test. It's a melding together of similar concepts. It's really the same thing. John F. Kennedy, when he was a congressman in his 30s, was a horrible public speaker, was known for sort of head down reading. All you saw was a thick hair. Nobody thought he was charismatic. But he learned how to be a better speaker and poof, everyone's calling him charismatic. Here's why this is so important. If you just say, well, that person's charismatic. I'm not naturally charismatic, therefore I'm sort of off the hook. What that means is I can get up and sort of read, blah, blah, blah, give people a boring speech and not hold myself to high standards because, hey, I'm not charismatic. That's what happens to people. But if you tell yourself, no, this is a skill, public speaking is a skill. It's like any other skill. If you work at it, if you practice it, you get better and better and better. Well, then you have no excuse for giving a horrible speech and lacking in charisma. The real problem with charisma is you tell yourself, oh, you're either born with it, you're not. It's this intangible, ethereal quality. It's this magic pixie dust. You tell yourself all that and what it really means is you stop trying to improve. You stop trying to be a better communicator. You stop trying to motivate your audience, to influence your audience when you speak to them. And that's a tragedy. I'm here to tell you if you want to be perceived as having charisma, there's something you can do. And that thing you can do is practice your public speaking skills, practice your presentation skills. You can practice right here on Facebook or YouTube every day. Just speak, record it, put your video out there and see what people think. Maybe it doesn't happen overnight, but you know what? No important skill in your career happened overnight. It takes time. It takes practice, it takes effort. Do that and you can be seen as not only a good speaker but as charismatic. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for joining me. If you'd like more tips on how to be a better speaker, a better presenter or if you like more charismatic, please like my page on Facebook go to facebook.com tjwalkerinteractive.
