Charismatically Framing a New Leader’s Message

Research shows that how you frame your message matters.  

New research shows that charismatic framing of your message will take you a long way in getting buy-in to your vision and any change initiatives that you have taken a stand for.

If you are a new business executive about to make a statement to your board, Wall Street analysts, or employees at a Town Hall meeting, or a newly elected official making your maiden speech, you may want to take into account the latest research of Professor Vilmos Misangyi of Penn States Smeal School of Business.

Professor Misangyi’s research shows that your ability to charismatically frame your message – how you language it – will greatly influence how people respond. Or as I say in my book: Technicolor language gets Technicolor responses.

In his inaugural address and later in his Fireside Chats, President Franklin Roosevelt demonstrated an incredible ability to use charismatic language when he said things like: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Charismatic framing of your message uses distinct words.

It is important to keep in mind that all statements have three parts. Professor Misangyi has analyzed the speeches of new executives and discovered that certain kinds of charismatic words were used in each of the three kinds of statements. This also applies to politics where we can find many examples of leaders who are absolute masters of charismatically framing their messages. 

Let’s look at each of these three parts.

1. Statement’s of the past and present.

The leader’s charismatic framing of his message here is to build the case for change. “While many company executives and employees have made great efforts, the fact remains that the status quo is intolerable.” Other frequently used words were to the effect that company performance was the “worst,” “awful,” “terrible,” “disappointing.”

During the presidential debates with the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, a master orator, drove home the need for change, simply by asking millions of Americans, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

2. Statements of goals and change programs.

The charismatic framing in this statement is intended to inspire people to take up goals and change initiatives that will allow them to transcend the status quo. The leader intentionally wraps his goals and plans in emotional words like: “we must believe,” “be the best,” “show 100% commitment,” “become a rallying point.”

In politics, President John Kennedy so eloquently stated in a speech to Congress in 1961: “Now it is time to take longer strides—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth…. I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

3. Statements about the means to achieve ends.

The leader uses charismatic framing to empower people to feel if they take up these goals and plans, they can succeed. The leader’s message often is languaged in terms of “we,” “the team,” “collaborating, with customers, employees.”

Again, going back to Kennedy: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”

If you need help with your message, whether you are an executive in a new role, or a new elected offical or political appointee, let’s talk.