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Success Advice

How You Can Develop the Charisma of Elon Musk

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Think about the space industry for a second; one of the world’s most expensive, complex, and bureaucratic industries you can find. Now, imagine one day a software wiz kid decides he wants to start building rockets and compete against large competitors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Although he had no experience in the space industry, after 15 years and billions of dollars spent, this entrepreneur succeeds on disrupting the whole industry, defeating its competitors along the way.

As you can imagine by now, the entrepreneur I’m talking about is Elon Musk. Not only has he disrupted the space industry, but he also changed the financial industry with PayPal, the automobile industry with Tesla Inc., and the renewable energy industry with SolarCity. If there’s one common attribute among all Elon Musk’s successes it’s his charisma.

If you see Elon Musk and wish you had his charismatic personality, don’t despair. Elon Musk wasn’t born charismatic. All you need is learn how to develop your charisma, just like Elon Musk did.

Hit the right level of charisma

When Elon Musk speaks at a press conference, he’s far from looking like Steve Jobs, the classic example of a charismatic CEO. He talks like a normal person would. It turns out having moderate levels of charisma, like Elon, is a good thing. According to a study from Ghent University, it’s more important for CEOs to have a “good enough” level of charisma that fits their personalities best than trying to force looking charismatic.

Researchers measured different charismatic personality traits using 56 questions from the Hogan Development Survey. Researchers then compared the scores from 600 business leaders with their effectiveness rated by their superiors, peers, and subordinates.

They found charisma has diminishing marginal returns; as charisma increased, so did perceived effectiveness, but only up to a point. After a certain point, as charisma scores continued to increase, perceived effectiveness started to decline. “Leaders with both low and high charismatic personalities were perceived as being less effective than leaders with moderate levels of charisma,” said Filip De Fruyt Ph.D., one of the co-authors of the study.

The less charismatic leaders ended up being seen as less effective due to lacking in the vision and strategy, while the more charismatic ones were scored lower due to their weakness in operations. Having a good mix of both vision and execution, as seen in moderately charismatic leaders, seems to be one of the secrets behind Elon’s success.

“You want to have a future where you’re expecting things to be better, not one where you’re expecting things to be worse.” – Elon Musk

Have a presence

One common element among all charismatic CEOs is their presence. According to Amy Cuddy, Harvard psychologist and author of the book by the same name, presence is “the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values and potential.” Presence is “confidence without arrogance.” It is all about being in the moment.

Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Charisma Myth, considers Elon Musk as a prime example of someone who has mastered the art of charismatic presence. Despite the fact he’s naturally introverted, he can show high levels of intense focus and presence when he speaks. When he speaks to someone, he gives his full attention to a few people, which makes people feel like they are special. Other charismatic leaders that were famous for their intense focus were Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy.

To develop presence, Cuddy recommends two exercises. The first one is called “power posing,” which consists on adopting the body language of other powerful people, so you feel and act more confident. The second one, self-affirmation, consists on writing down your core values and why they’re meaningful to you.

Have conviction

Take a look at the life of Elon Musk, and you will see in each of his successes he had to overcome a myriad of nerve-wracking challenges. His challenges include avoiding a near bankruptcy by a matter of days and building two separate companies while going through a messy public divorce with his first wife, Justine.

Antonio Gracias, an investor in both Tesla and SpaceX, said Elon Musk: “has the ability to work harder and endure more stress than anyone I’ve ever met. The harder it gets, the better he gets.” After all his setbacks and mistakes, Tesla is valued at over $56 billion, whereas SpaceX is valued at $21 billion.

The only way he was able to keep his companies afloat was his conviction. According to Charlie Houpert, author of Charisma on Command, “conviction is the heart of charisma. It is the belief that things will work out. It’s the belief that somehow, someway your goals will be achieved. It’s being sure of yourself in the face of the unknown“.

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk

The only way you can build conviction like Elon Musk is by believing in yourself regardless of what other people think. Build conviction in everything you do and people will follow you.

Developing charisma is like learning a skill because there are no shortcuts and it takes time. With the right attitude, which includes patience and perseverance, it can be developed. Elon Musk was able to develop his charisma just like he was able to build his company, step by step, mistake after mistake. Follow his steps, and you will be able to develop charisma to become a more effective leader in your own life.

What do you like most about Elon Musk? Share with us in the comments below!

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
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The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
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Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
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You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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