Do you think Hillary Clinton has a personality that attracts voters?
Hilary has a different personality style than many candidates. Hillary has always been highly competitive and laser-focused on her goals.
She has a commanding D Driver-style personality paired with the strategic, methodical approach of a C Corrector style personality. This combination of traits makes her very ambitious and very knowledgeable about the inner workings and details of the system. She is not warm and fuzzy. If someone who had suffered a great loss was talking to her, she wouldn’t say, “I am so sorry for your loss you must feel so bad.” She would be direct and solution oriented and ask the person for the details of what happened and offer a specific solution. She is a thinker not a feeler. It would be great if she could be a bit more sensitive to people’s emotions, but she is a DC personality and they can sometimes be seen as overly task-oriented.
What are the elements that could show Hillary as a more humane candidate and closer to the people? If I was her nonverbal communication coach. (and yes I am a personal coach as well as a professional speaker on body language.) I would create video and photos of her hugging people and being warm and genuine and playing with children, and people who have undergone hardship and even video of her being warm and relaxed around her close friends and family.
Does Hillary have charisma?
Let’s break down what Charisma is and talk about her specific nonverbal behaviors. Charisma is comprised of likability, Attractiveness and Power.
Likability is created non verbally through smiles and eye contact, animated and expressive facial expressions, gestures and rapport building skills such a matching and mirroring and staying connected and leaning forward when someone is talking. In the past, Hilary did not have a relaxed warm smile. Her smile was often often small and looks tense. (That’s a common characteristic of a high C on the DISC) She is super smart and results oriented so if she is listening to you and she gets your point, she is on to solution and she stops listening!!!! I have seen her do this in countless TV interviews. She has worked on her smile a great deal but, was blasted for smiling too much or having a odd smile in the first presidential debates, but over all the change in her smile made her look unruffled and warmer. Yet the media criticizers her if she doesn't smile enough an when they feel she smiles too much or in oddly. Her husband Bill Clinton who is high on Charisma and and does smile as much as he wants and we love it. He is high in Charisma and his smile is large warm and sincere. He has charismatic laser focused eye contact that makes a listener feel like he is the center of Bills universe and the most special person in the world. Talk to anyone who has met him and they will talk about his eye contact and how he lingers to listen to the them and connect evening extending length of handshake to linger and connect.
Attractiveness is the second charismatic factor and this is so hard to say, but Hilary looks professional but she does not fit the typical attractiveness standard. She looked great in the first presidential debate That irritates me as a woman, and really as a human being, But it is important in a presidential candidate. Years ago, when Sarah Palin was selected as a Vice Presidential candidate I was doing media interviews about Sarah's body language and my hosts always mentioned her attractive appearance..
Power is the last component of Charisma. This is a tricky characteristic for a women. Hilary is very powerful. She has many power cues. But, there is a difficulty again with a women looking too powerful. Hilary walks the B line. The line between warm and feminine and being a B---h. She also has a strident voice. But she has worked on it considerably. The biggest issue is that her nonverbal cues are not as powerful as Trumps and they cannot be!!! We would despise a female candidate who screamed and yelled, interrupted and stabbed the air and grimaced the way Trump does. The bigger problem is that the public tends to vote for the most ALPHA powerful candidate for president. Regardless of their party.
So, to answer your question, though in person she is highly charismatic, in interviews and televised speeches she does not have the likability specifically the warmth that voters like. It may not matter and it may make all the difference.
Do you believe that that charisma is necessary to win an election in the United States?
Historically, yes. The public tends to vote for the most charismatic candidate.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
