charisma

charisma, attribute of astonishing power and capacity ascribed to the person and personality of extraordinarily magnetic leaders. Such leaders may be political and secular as well as religious. They challenge the traditional order, for either good or ill. The word derives from the Greek charis (“grace”) and charizesthai (“to show favour”), connoting a talent or grace granted by the divine. The term came into scholarly usage primarily through the works of the German sociologist Max...