Management

Charisma and intelligence Versus Ethics, hard work and Competence

            Charisma can be defined as a trait found in people that make them attractive or interesting to others hence enabling them to influence other people. Charisma makes people role models to others hence winning admiration from them. People are seen to have a special gift that makes them have such characteristics in life. A person who has charismatic qualities is also said to have powerful interpersonal communication skills. On the other side, intelligence is the ability to understand and benefit from experience. It is also described as the ability of gathering information in order to achieve the best out of something. Intelligent people are described as the people who are able to comprehend on matters concerning specific issues and people who are ready to use their knowledge to achieve the best out of it. They are able to come up with concrete decisions about specific issues in life hence most of intelligent people are said to be charismatic. They come up with decisions, which are able to solve a particular issue regardless of ethics, hard work or competence. It is therefore beyond doubts that these people are likely to be of great advantage or loss to the society.

Ethics refers to the standard set of codes of conducts that define the expected moral behavior in a given setting. This means that there is existence of rules and regulations that are supposed to be obeyed by a specific group of people. These rules are supposed to be obeyed and right action is taken against failure to abide in the rules. The right action taken is in the form of reprimands that restrict the repeat of breach of the laws set for the group. Hard work is the tendency of working with determination towards the achievement of set goals by an individual or organization. This means that hard working people work with zeal towards achievement of their set goals. Competence is the ability to work efficiently with the right skill towards achievement of a certain goal by an individual or organization. It is therefore important for people to note that ethics, hard work and competence always give the best and genuine results in achieving of goals.

It is vivid clear from documentaries or movies “capitalism: a love story”, “the smartest guys in the room” and “working girl” that charisma and intelligence overcomes hard work, ethics and competence. This is because charisma and intelligence may lack ethics hence the results achieved by an intelligent and charismatic person are likely to be not genuine. This means that an intelligent person may be out to achieve success through immoral means. The main aim in every work is to achieve results hence people work towards achieving good results through different ways. Some of these ways may be ethical while others unethical. I would like to support the presence of ethics at a working station because ethics combined with hard work and competence leads to success. Sometimes people may achieve success through unethical means but it is important for them to treasure ethics because unethical success may lead to unexpected reprimands in ones life. An example is a person who gains wealth through theft. When he is caught, the wealth is likely to be taken back and a serious punishment assigned to him. This means that ethics is vital in business operations.

According to “working girl”, hard work is very essential in ones life as it leads to ones success when an opportunity comes. This means that a hard working person stands a better chance when it comes to achieving good results. It enables one exploit the available opportunity to his or her best. In the story, Tess McGill, exploits an opportunity that she gets in her life to acquire wealth. The absence of her boss at work creates an open opportunity for her to carry out her deal. She ends up getting the best out of the opportunity hence taking advantage of her boss’s intelligence (Nichols, 1988). The Boss who had her leg fractured during her holiday comes back to realize that McGill had exploited the opportunity to kick her out of office. She also ends up dating her Boss’s husband after discovering that her boy friend has been cheating on her. Her unethical Boss who was out to exploit her ideas becomes the loser after she strikes a deal with her husband (Nichols, 1988). She is ethical and competent in her job hence the reason as to why she ends up succeeding in her deal.

            It is evident that McGill lacks charisma, this is because she works as a secretary and the fact that her boy friend cheats on her. Nevertheless, she is hardworking and competent in her work. The hard work and competence enable her to succeed in her life. If she were not hardworking and competent, she would remain to be a secretary in her Boss’s company. She was out to support her Boss but changed her mind after realizing that her Boss was out to exploit her. She is also portrayed as lacking intelligence because of her secretary position at work. It is despite her intelligence at work that she works hard towards her success. She ends up succeeding because of her hard work, ethics and competence. It is therefore beyond doubts that hard work overcomes Charisma and intelligence as evident in the story “working girl”.

Hard work, ethics and competence are fundamental factors needed in boosting economic development in a given country or state unlike intelligence and charisma. This is evident in “Capitalism: A Love Story”, where Michael Moore emphasizes on the secret behind current economic status in the United States (Moore, 2009). He endorses the fact that capitalism does not seem to work in the current world hence the reason as to why families are facing economic difficulties in the current America. Capitalism is seen to cause economic recession in America hence the reason as to why life has changed in America. He emphasizes that the current living standards of the people living in America is different from the one experienced in 1950. This is because of increase in prices of goods and services in America. Although Michael Moore puts it across to people as a joke, he intends to mean that the living standards of America are getting high every day (Moore, 2009).

Although America is said to be among the top leading economies in the world, it is important note that the living standards in America are also high despite its big name. This shows that America has Charismatic traits as many people in the world treasure living in America but the hidden truth is that the standards of living are high in America (Moore, 2009). It is therefore through hard work and competence that Michael Moore is able to discover the hidden truth about America. He outlines that many people in America do not seem to understand the status of living standards in their country. America is also said to have the highest number of intellectuals but ethics, hard work and competence seems to lack in the country.

Intelligence and charisma can be said to be inferior to Ethics, hard work and competence in business organizations because unethical transactions carried out by business employees end up to big losses kin the business organizations. Many executive employees end up getting the best out of the company hence the downfall of the organizations. This is evident in the “Smartest Guys in the Room” because the senior employees involved in fraudulent businesses caused a major economic downfall in the company.

             The collapse of the Enron Corporation in 2001 was due to application of intelligence and charisma overlooking hard work and competence by the employees in the organization. Jeffrey Skilling who seems to value ethics, hard work and competence in his work criticizes the company’s senior executive officer attitude of being unethical by painting a false image to the public about the company’s annual profits. It is also evident that Lou Pai, the C.E.O, stole the company’s funds to improve his personal financial status. In conclusion, it is beyond doubts that ethics, hard work and competence are fundamental factors unlike charisma and intelligence in the individual or organizational development.

 

 

Works Cited

Bolden, R., Gosling, J., Marturano, A. & Dennison, P. Center for Leadership Studies: A review of Leadership Theory and Competency Frameworks. Centre for Leadership Studies University of Exeter. 2003. Print

Gibney, Alex, dir. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Magnolia Pictures, 2005. Film.

Moore, Michael, dir. Capitalism: A Love Story. Paramount Vantage, 2009. Film.

Nichols, Mike, dir. Working Girl. 20th Century Fox, 1988. Film.

Robertson, Alisa. The Secret of Making CEOs. 2008. Web. Retrieved on June 18, 2010, from http://www.bus.wisc.edu/update/december04/ceos.asp