Corporate Charisma

Citation

Oliver, S. (1999), "Corporate Charisma", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 50-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccij.1999.4.1.50.2

This is an interesting practitioner text which takes a lateral approach in attempting to look at organisation through concepts of psychology such as personality. It’s a basic step‐by‐step guide with a foreword by the honourable Sir Rocco Forte and described as a “perceptive piece of writing” by the group chief executive of Lloyds TSB Group Plc, P.B.L. Ellwood. It tends to concentrate on customers as a single stakeholder group rather than applying lifestyle analysis referred to in the editorial but it also tries to link the psychology of charisma as a variable of personality through case studies such as Benetton, Body Shop and Avon without going into clinical evidence for the views expressed.

The authors claim to have written a book out of frustration because they have seen “too much lip service” paid to “visions, values, customer promises and employee dreams”. In arguing for a common‐sense approach the authors fall dangerously close to the naïve assumption that any academic underpinning automatically rules out common sense. The experience of the authors as consultants is not in question but since such the publishers suggest this is an authoritative book, the occasional dogmatic and prescriptive style can often irritate. This is a useful book for entrance to the field, say certificate or foundation level of management studies, public relations or related vocational pathways.