At the end of my MBA, I decided to end my course with an Advanced Communications course. I always knew I wasn’t very good at public speaking. But, after coming to study MBA, I realised just how weak I was. Even then, I managed to pull through the two years with a presentation in practically all my classes. I truly believed that I had improved until I gave a presentation today in the Advanced Communications class. I took this class to refresh my memory of the first Communications class that we had taken, at the very beginning of my MBA. I never felt as nervous as I did today, before my presentation. Knowing that I would be judged on my posture, hand gestures, non-verbals and what not, made me much more conscious that I had been in any of the 13 odd subject presentations as well as a corporate client presentation that I had to give in these two years! Knowing that you are being judged on things other than just your content, makes you this way. While presenting, I fumbled many times. I received a lot of feedback that I will surely work on to become a better presenter. But this brings me to what I really want to talk about.
The particular assignment that we had to present on was analyzing famous speeches to find out what made them so famous and inspirational. Apart from the content and the way it was delivered, our discussion led us to discuss “charisma”. Charisma is something that attracts people to you. It could be anything. The best example to demonstrate that was to discuss the Presidential Candidates and their charisma – the way they present themselves, shake hands, smile, talk, or even look at you. I learnt a lot about how charisma can affect your chances of succeeding. One of the surprising finds for me was that a business plan can become successful (even before it is presented) not because of its content but just based on the charisma of the person presenting it. That brought us to a tough question. Can charisma be taught? When the class was asked this question, everyone was silent. Most felt that it could not actually be taught but may be inculcated over time.
What surprised me was that, the discussion on charisma was more on outward appearances. One of the students mentioned a phrase that I felt was very appropriate – “Appear to be genuine”. That worried me. I asked the question that always bothered me as a person. What about actual capabilities of a person? Doesn’t hard work count? Just because a person can’t light up a stage doesn’t mean that he or she isn’t right for the job! The answer was clear. That’s sad but that really is how the world works. They see what you show. As you would have probably guessed by now, I lack “charisma” and listening to such conversations worries me, as I am about to set foot into the business world in a couple of months. If the answer to the question “Can charisma be taught?” is no, then will I never succeed? If it can indeed be taught, how long will it take to learn? Will this be an impediment to my progress in my career? I am not much of a speaker. But I believe I manage a bit of writing now and then. Is that not enough of a communication skill? I agree that you would need both in order to succeed. But if I write a really good business plan but can’t present it as well as a more “charismatic” person, will I be written off as inferior?
I have grown up thinking that hard work always pays off. Being an introvert, I have worked really hard to overcome that personality trait and build relationships in school and around places I have worked so far. Its a constant learning curve. But, knowing that I may be beaten at something because I can’t portray myself as people would like, definitely puts a road block in my path that I may never be able to cross. I do hope I can manage to find a way around this and beat the odds of never being able to teach myself to be charismatic!
Musings of a confused nut! 