Review

Daniel Freeman

I put myself forward to go on the course because I felt that I needed to improve my "charisma". Not that I think I’m boring of course - just that I need to effectively sell myself and my ideas in a business environment. To be honest I didn’t really know what I was letting myself in for. When I got the course joining instructions and saw that it was at the Globe theatre in London I guess I imagined we would somehow all be acting on stage!

Before attending the course we had to fill in a simple online "test" to assess our initial "charisma". Before revealing my score I have to say in my defense that I had been suffering from the flu when I completed it - none the less I scored lower than I would like at around 50%.

On turning up on the first day we had some "Kirlian" photos taken of our hands –basically a picture of the electro-magnetic field around our hands. Mine was very weak –which can happen apparently if you’re very tired. Later on in the course we learnt that the different types of lines radiating out of our fingers and the balance between the left and the right side can tell you something about your personality and this has an impact on your charisma. We did the photo on the second day and mine was certainly different –much more defined.

The first session was a "greet and meet" with the other participants –but with a difference. You had to talk to someone and then they rated your "charisma" using a simple scale between 1 to 5 against 5 categories. My average score was a disappointing 16 (out of a maximum 25). The idea was that we used this technique at different times during the course to measure the improvement in our charisma.

In the following sessions we worked within small groups to identify people we thought had "charisma" and to then define the qualities that made them charismatic and what benefits we thought would accrue to someone with charisma.

Nikki (our charismatic course leader) presented the 5 "star" qualities that she had identified as giving rise to charisma. One of the key items was self-esteem and the next session was all about building self esteem through writing down qualities that we admired in ourselves, we thought others admired in us and then writing something positive about the other people in the group. A lot of the sessions on the first day were quite introspective –thinking about our feelings.

The second day had a variety of different sessions but was perhaps the most difficult day for me because there was a lot of what I would term "new age" or pseudo-science. In one particular session, everyone had a go at "dowsing" –not looking for water I hasten to add but using "rods" to try to measure the effect on our "aura" of thinking negative and positive thoughts and hence your impact and influence on others around you. I tried to go in with an open mind but I admit I was sceptical and this session was particularly difficult – everyone seemed to get a reaction from the "Rods" but not me – and although I think I may have felt a slight unexplained movement this was not repeated in any of the subsequent exercises. For me personally therefore this session was a bit of a waste of time.

For me it was unfortunate that a lot of the course was "dressed" up in this terminology because most of the underlying message was valid and made sense.

For me I would have rather had less "theory" (i.e. less "dowsing") and more practical techniques such as the session we did where we were given feedback on how we talked about a topic we found interesting versus one which we didn’t – and then tried to imitate those mannerisms whilst talking about the less interesting subject

At the end of the course we had to go around to the others and get them to assess us as they had on the first day – I was pleased that my average rating had increased to 21 –but again, with my sceptical hat on I’m not sure how much of this was due to an increase in my charisma per se rather than simply getting to know the other people on the course through two days of sometimes quite intensive exercises!

Overall, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the course and found it to be thought provoking and interesting. There was good mix of people (quite a few accountants) and Nikki was a great presenter and course leader.

However, I don’t necessarily feel any more "charismatic" than before I went on the course. Interestingly, I completed the on-line test a few days after going on the course and actually scored lower than before –although this time I think it was because I was more confident and assertive about rating myself at the extremes of the scales!

Overall, I can say that I do have a better appreciation for what I can do to make myself more charismatic and I can honestly say that I enjoyed both days of the course.