For years, organizations across the globe have notoriously and foolishly promoted charismatic individuals into leadership roles, only to see these clever office politicians fail time and time again.

In response to this global epidemic, RELEVANT Managementberatung and Hogan recently collaborated on a new article titled “Our View on New Leadership: How to Grow Humility in Charismatic Leaders.” The article, which will be accessible to RELEVANT’s newsletter subscribers first, was co-authored by RELEVANT Founder Dr. René Kusch, RELEVANT Senior Consultant Annette B. Czernik, Dr. Robert Hogan, and Dr. Ryne Sherman. It provides an in-depth look, backed by years of data, at why humble, driven leaders are more successful than their charismatic counterparts. Here’s an abstract of the article:

Emergent leaders, the ones that get noticed, promoted, and pampered in their organizations, typically exhibit strong self-confidence, decisiveness, and visionary thinking – which are not bad things. These characteristics are related to charisma. Too much might be as unacceptable as too little, though. Charisma has a dark side; it is linked to narcissism, and narcissism comes with disastrous side effects. 

Multiple studies have revealed that it is humility in leadership that ensures results, productivity, and effectiveness of an organization. Humility is a personality trait that is not glamorous at all, and often overlooked. Yet, it seems what many companies are missing in their endeavors to face and cope with the exigencies the 4^th industrial revolution is presenting. According to their conversation on leadership 4.0 at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of the new champions, working with millennials, leaders say humility works better than bossing around (Vanham, 2019). Today, there are fewer possibilities for dysfunctional narcissistic leaders to mask or coat their misconduct. It is a huge opportunity for HR departments to make identifying humble leaders and developing humility in charismatic leaders a priority.

The article outlines in great detail the reasons why charismatic leaders fail at an alarming rate, and how humble leaders are critical to organizational success. Click here to access the full-length version.