'You Had Me at Hello' The Use of Narrative in Building a Charismatic Leader Reputation

Charismatic leadership finds importance in a wide variety of fields from athletics to business to education to philanthropic endeavours, etc., and has been a part of our lives, whether we have realised or not, from the beginning of our existence. In fact, from elections for class president in elementary school to board member selections for Fortune 500 companies, that unspecific charismatic quality of one's personality impacts virtually every field that relies on leadership. The relationship of charisma to business communication has been previously explored only in limited measure and this article examines four contemporary business leaders who were able to leverage their own communication skills to help build their charismatic reputations. The ability of leaders to sell a certain narrative has been a major key to the success of their respective companies and for developing their own specific brand of charismatic leadership.