The Essence of the Charismatic Leader

Recently, I’ve been working more with leaders of development teams, and I’ve become quite intrigued by the topic of dynamism and the charisma that often accompanies it.

The Misconception of Dynamism

What do we usually associate with dynamism? It’s often linked with someone who is very energetic, speaks quickly, thinks rapidly, and acts fast. However, particularly in IT projects, I notice that many leaders who truly excel at what they do don’t necessarily fit this description. Yet, people listen to them, follow them, and give them their utmost attention.

A few days ago, I experienced a situation that led to an epiphany. We’ve been recruiting intensely lately, and one day, I participated in the interview process of two candidates. One was rather calm and composed, while the other was very energetic.

The Impact of Different Communication Styles

During the meeting, despite the second candidate’s immense energy and hundreds of words spoken per minute, other participants quickly became bored. After fifteen minutes, I found myself tuning out. The high energy eventually turned into a monotonous (!!) lulling noise.

The first candidate responded slowly to questions, frequently asked questions in return, thus drawing us into a conversation. Two hours flew by without our noticing… and I wanted more.

• “WTF?” I thought. - “HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE ENERGETIC GUY BORED US, WHILE THE LESS ENERGETIC, COMPOSED ONE ENGAGED US WITH HIS SPEECH?”

Discovering True Dynamism

Then I had an epiphany! DYNAMICS. It’s the dynamics that engage us in what is happening. But beware! The word dynamics is treacherous, as it carries imprecise colloquial connotations. According to the definition of sound DYNAMICS from Wikipedia (http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamika_%28elektroakustyka%29), it’s large when it’s sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, and alternates between slow and fast. Thus, charismatic people are dynamic people, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’re loud. One clever method to calm a baby is to expose them to something monotonously loud (e.g., a vacuum cleaner), putting them to sleep easily. Monotonous noise lulls!

Especially in IT, noise makes little sense, as rational decisions need to prevail. IF YOU WANT PEOPLE TO LISTEN TO YOU WITH INTEREST, FOLLOW YOU, YOU MUST LEARN TO SPEAK AND ACT DYNAMICALLY, AND THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO BE LOUD OR GUSH OUT A STREAM OF WORDS :)

(Text translated and moved from original old blog automatically by AI. May contain inaccuracies.)