The subtle secrets of charisma ©Corbis Effective repetition: Martin Luther King used 'I have a dream' at the start of a series of clauses Glancing up from his notes, Gautam Khanna detected a restlessness in his audience. He knew what he wanted to convey to his unit about the controversial HR policy that his company was introducing; yet, somehow, he sensed that he was failing to take his listeners with him. "After the talk, people asked me, privately, "Do you really think this is the right thing to do?" " he says. "I thought: "Well, yes, actually, I do. Isn't that what I said?" " He had failed to convince. Today Mr Khanna, an executive at Infosys, the Indian IT company, would deliver such a talk differently. The one he is recalling with some discomfort took place three years ago; now, he would acknowledge his colleagues" concerns, share his own feelings and perhaps tell a personal story. He might modulate his voice; organise his key points into pithy three-part lists; use metaphors; smile or frown occasionally, while gradually building to a statement of personal conviction or a vision of a better future. The magic ingredient in his transformation? Charisma. IN Management For the past year, Mr Khanna has been practising a personal charisma regime developed by Infosys based on work by academics at the University of Lausanne. Led by John Antonakis, a professor of organisational behaviour who wrote on charisma in the Harvard Business Review in June, the academics claim to have identified a dozen communication habits, rooted in the principles of classic rhetoric, that make a speaker appear more authoritative, trustworthy and persuasive - in short, more like a leader. Nine of the techniques are verbal: using metaphors and easy-to-remember three-part lists; telling stories; drawing vivid contrasts; asking rhetorical questions; expressing moral conviction; reflecting an audience's sentiments; and setting high but achievable goals. The rest are non-verbal: raising and lowering your voice, letting your feelings show in face and hand gestures to reinforce what you say. The Lausanne academics" case for charisma training runs counter to a recent theme in management ideas that plays down "corporate stars" in favour of teams. Prof Antonakis argues, however, that having charismatic qualities can turn a competent manager into someone that others notice and want to follow. The good news, says Prof Antonakis, is that charisma can be nurtured: "Some people are naturally more talented but everyone can improve with practice." In a study he conducted with fellow researchers to test their methods, a selection of managers in a big Swiss company watched video clips of charismatic leaders and practised their techniques. When assessed later by colleagues on their leadership abilities, those who had the training came out better, says Prof Antonakis. Old ways of making new points The modern-day science of persuasion is rooted in three "rhetorical appeals" described by Aristotle: ethos, logos and pathos. ● Ethos - establishing your credentials and building rapport: Useful ethos techniques include speaking your audience's language and reflecting their concerns in what you say. Penny Moyle, chief executive of workplace psychologists OPP, advises talking strategy to executives, but also recognising that staff are likely to be more interested in what's changing for them - how will their job be different? ● Logos - persuading through logic: Useful logos techniques include contrasts and rhetorical questions, which can clarify choices by juxtaposing good and bad outcomes and combine reason with emotion; three-point lists are easy to recall and suggest completeness. Infosys's Gautam Khanna says using trios of points has added a purposeful edge to his presenting. "In the past, my managers would sometimes say "the content was good, but you weren't very cutting."" ● Pathos - persuasion with emotion: Useful pathos techniques include stories, metaphors, lowering or raising your voice; while gestures and facial expressions can heighten emotional force. But respect cultural differences, warns John Antonakis, professor of organisational behaviour at Lausanne University: "What Asians consider over-the-top, southern Europeans may consider emotionally repressed." Charisma, however, is not just about having commanding rhetoric. Listening is important too. In fact, some management thinkers − including the Harvard academic Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who recently blogged on charisma − argue that it is how well you listen, rather than how well you talk, that persuades people to do things. It is also possible to overdo learnt techniques, as Prof Antonakis admits. A dramatic metaphor - as in Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's memo likening the choices facing the company to those of an oil worker on a burning platform - can spark people's imagination and shock them into paying attention. However, if overused, rhetorical devices can start to look formulaic, which is more likely to make an audience switch off. "Effective rhetoric need not be fancy rhetoric," says Sam Leith, author of You Talkin" to Me? Rather than cultivating a high-flown style, he advises novices to tune into how their audience think, and to listen to how they speak. He identifies General George Patton as a master of the art of persuasive plain-speaking. In the final weeks of the second world war, the general exhorted his troops to redouble their efforts with the words "The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home." This was an in­stance of "ethos building," says Mr Leith: getting his audience on side by focusing on what mattered most to them - being reunited with their families - and using language his listeners might use to each other. Similarly, aspiring corporate leaders should drop "business-speak," says Neil Taylor, creative director at The Writer, a writing and language consultancy. He recalls working for a company that was trying to improve "operational excellence." After six months, only one team had im­proved. It turned out the team leader was holding weekly meetings that she called "Doing everyday things better." By translating jargon into down-to-earth language, Mr Taylor says, she had turned a nebulous concept into a simple idea everyone could grasp and act on. Tapping into rhythms of speech and developing an appreciation of what is easy on the ear are important, says Steven Cohen, who teaches oral communication skills at the University of Maryland and the Harvard Extension School, an offshoot of the university that runs open-enrolment courses. His favourite techniques are anaphora and epistrophe. The first device repeats words or phrases at the start of successive clauses, as in Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. The second repeats them at the end, as in Barack Obama's 2008 electoral refrain "Yes We CAN!." "Just as music can stir the emotions, language that appeals to the ear can lift people's sights and spirits, inspiring them to do things that they would otherwise not," he says. However, even when sentences have a musical quality, it is often everyday language that works best. US president John F. Kennedy's famously used chiasmus - in which the second half of a statement reverses the order of words in the first − as in "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." The words were simple and direct - and their impact all the greater. Ultimately, however, sincerity is vital. It is not just what you say, or how you say it, that convinces people you are not phoney. As Prof Cohen puts it: "You can dress things up with all the anaphora and epistrophe in the world, but if you don't have a deep sense that something is important you're not going to persuade anyone." Back at Infosys, Mr Khanna says that incorporating charismatic techniques into his presenting repertoire has improved his impact as a leader. At first he used them consciously: "Now they are second nature."