Jim Collins, author most famously of Good to Great and Built to Last, doesn’t speak in public all that often, but when he does, he’s worth hearing.  He’s a brilliant, charismatic speaker, because he embodies the 2 secrets of charisma:  focus and passion.  Most people think that charisma is something that’s innate, something you’re born with, as if there were charismatic babies. 

Well, guess what?  All babies are charismatic.  So the question you should be asking is how do adults reconnect with the charisma of their youth?  And the answer is:  find your focus and unleash your passion.  As Jim Collins does.  Let’s look at each one a little more. 

First of all, you have to have a relentless focus on what matters to you.  That means not thinking about a thousand things at once, like most of us do.  That means, when you’re getting up to speak, that you’re all there, not half there and half somewhere else, like at the bar at the end of the day having a drink to celebrate surviving your speech. 

Focus gets you there, in front of the audience.  Passion takes you home.  You have to care more about your subject than anything else – and anyone else.  Collins spends, oh, six years studying his topics, researching them, and working on the next book.  The results? 
They prove the point.  In fact, I don’t agree with many of the things that Collins says, but that doesn’t take a jot away from his charisma. 

Collins perfectly demonstrates that charisma is learned, not innate, and it comes from focus and passion: http://tinyurl.com/lg2scw.

And btw, here’s one of his ideas I do agree with:  http://tinyurl.com/ldze58.

I talk a lot more about what charisma is and how to achieve it here:  Trust Me:  Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma.  At heart what’s important is finding your focus and passion.