Good News for Aspiring Leaders: 'It' Factor Can Be Learned

Everyone writes about charismatic leaders -- those who have that certain something that makes people want to follow them anywhere, but no one ever defines what that "It" factor is all about.

Business management textbooks and self-help guides cover the role that personal charisma plays in leadership, but according to a newly published study co-authored by Kenneth Levine, a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, communications studies professor, until recently no one was able to describe and measure charisma in a systematic way.