Question Number: 78

Question descriptionI want a comment for this :The article’s main objective is to show how character of a leader is a critical element in assessing how effective such a leader is and how such person can stimulate followers to perform their jobs well with good motivation. Charisma on the other hand is important but it has its own very clear limitations as well as what the author described as a “dark side” (Sankar, 2003).As Sankar (2003) mentions, charisma of a leader is a measure of leadership that merely focuses on the personality attributes of that leader in the form of things like his or her image, self-confidence, emotional intelligence. However, this focus on the personality of the leader can create a leader who becomes more personalized in nature and starts to exhibit negative attributes like narcissism, self-serving, and even a situation where such leader exploits others based on the amount of influence they have on people by being charismatic. According to Sankar (2003), this “dark side” of a charismatic leader happens when the more personalized leader starts to exhibit character flaws and then results in nullification of every form of integrity or even core values that the leader might have.The character of a leader, according to Sankar (2003) is based on the core values of that leader and not just how well the person can talk or influence others as in the case of charismatic leadership. A leader can be charismatic in his leadership style but might fail in having a good character; such a leader would be seen to be inspirational, dynamic and glamorous but the dark side would be that he would by abusive with power, show so much ego and be greedy (Sankar, 2003). I also found out that integrity plays a great role in the character of a leader and that it is only when a leader combines integrity with his ability and motivation that he would be able to perform and guarantee long-term effectiveness in the organization that he works in.Some ways to identify that a leader’s integrity has been compromised include display of arrogance, breaching agreements, shifting blames to others, diminishing dignity, deception, and promoting self-interest (Sankar, 2003).A leader that organizations should employ should be one that shows that he or she possesses the right balance of both charisma and character but I would say that such person must show more evidence of good character than even charisma to be able to guarantee effectiveness on the job and leadership excellence.and for this :To judge whether character or charisma is the determinant of leadership excellence, we first need a comprehensive understanding of these concepts. The term “charisma” stands for an extraordinary quality/ability of a leader to influence his followers. Charisma mainly focuses on personality attributes like dynamism, style, image or symbolic behavior. While the character is an evaluation of personality. It based on core values of the leader which includes trust, truth, and integrity which influence leader ethics and vision and create environment ethical behavior and sense of shared accountability among followers.House et al (1991) argue that charismatic leadership may have two forms, positive (socialized) or negative (personalized) which can be distinguished by a unique set of personality characteristics. The positive charismatic leaders emphasize the collective interests of followers while negative charismatic leaders show the high level of narcissism & authoritarianism. In my opinion, the negative side of charisma (an overpowering sense of self-importance, strong need to be the center of attention and ignoring followers view points) is the main reason which makes the character more valuable than charisma.It is crystal clear from the studies conducted on these variables of leadership excellence that character has more influence than charisma. A virtuous character is the building block of leadership excellence. But we cannot totally overlook charisma in evaluating leadership excellence. The charismatic leader may be inspirational and dynamic which plays an important role in building confidence and motivating followers to achieve a shared vision/goal.