It is charisma, baby!

Dropout (Miniseries; 2022)

Netflix

Look at the following examples.

When the people of the 13 colonies were desperate to be cut off from their colonial masters, they wanted a leader. They saw that in George Washington, a 6 ft 4 in the son of a wealthy Virginian planter who rode on the expensive horse on the land. His marriage to the fairest and richest widow in the land also aided this. (By the way, the State of Virginia was named after the English Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I). Even though Washington was quite a disappointment as a soldier. He failed to get to be an officer with a King’s commission in the regular British Army. In the Independence War, Washington bungled up too. He was party to war crimes, killing his own men. He was implicated in land scams. Even as the first President, he blundered. His own Federalists Party came to nought because of its own doing. The only thing that kept him going was his charisma.

Then there is Napolean Bonaparte. At a time after the French Revolution, as the French were trying the real meaning of democracy before they found liberty, equality and fraternity, they discovered Bonaparte. With his sidekick, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, he gained the reputation of being a great diplomate and a master tactician. But we also know of many colossal failures. The protracted Penisular War in Spain and his ill-thought attack on Russian soil at the heights of winter are two glaring examples. The English language got a new word from his disastrous defeat at Waterloo. His post-exile fight for power from the island of Elba was also ill-thought. If he envisioned a legacy of succession, that too proved futile. So what secured this man a place in history? I guess it was his ability to recoup, rejuvenate and re-brand to stay relevant.

In the same, a certain carpenter from Galilee was an icon to resist the iron-fisted rule of Rome through their governor. The revolutionary had only charisma to offer to his followers. So did eccentric holy men like Jim Jones of People's Temple and David Koresh of Waco, who managed to charm their followers to give up the agencies.

The common trait of all these leaders who had their followers lose their minds to the twidle of their leader's fingers is charisma. Having charisma is not quite the same as being charming. From an etymological sense, charm comes from the French charme, from the earlier Latin meaning song or enchantment, praise of God. Charisma arises from the Greek kharisma meaning divine gift.

A charm is a form of attraction. It's an allure, a delight, a grace. Charisma is a form of influence. It's a magnetism, an ability to draw and hold someone's attention. 

This miniseries is based on the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford University dropout, and the youngest female entrepreneur and CEO in the USA. She tried to push her health technology company, Theranos, which she claimed would revolutionise the health industry. She claimed her machine could detect a myriad of illnesses from a single drop of blood. Holmes managed to draw big investors into her company and even conned the FDA to get her devices approved. Big names had no qualms associated with her despite all the dodgy dealings going on below the surface.

It is mind-boggling to imagine how such big shenanigans could go on under the watchful eyes of a first world's supposedly efficient enforcement machinery!

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