What's More Important: Experience or Charisma?

Being the political junkie that I am, I enjoy the non-stop programming, debates, polls, commentaries and analyses leading up to the presidential primaries on February 5^th, otherwise known as “Super Tuesday.”

With South Carolina’s primary just a few days away, the race for the Republican nomination still appears to be wide open. It appears as though there are at least 5 candidates with a legitimate shot at earning the nomination and that's not including Ron Paul, who has generated some of the most enthusiastic and involved supporters since Ross Perot back in ’92.

The Democrats, however, have been relatively decisive thus far in terms of choosing their nominees, with Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama easily emerging as the front runners. I find this race to be of particular interest because it mirrors a “candidate comparison scenario” that I come across all too frequently in executive recruiting: experience verses charisma.

Clinton spent the full hour on “Meet the Press” yesterday emphasizing the value of her experience and how Obama needs to go “beyond the words.” In the clip below, she refers to herself as a “Senatorial workhorse,” and references specific accomplishments in her background all the while implying that Obama is merely a “showhorse” that’s basing his entire campaign on a well-received speech he gave at the 2002 Democratic National Convention. Later on in the interview she states that Obama considers the passing of legislation not allowing lobbyists to buy lunch for members of Congress as his greatest accomplishment during his short time in the Senate (however, they are allowed to stand upright and eat at cocktail parties).

 

And while she doesn’t reference it in this particular segment, pay attention to the number of times Clinton points out that’s she been working “on behalf of the public" for 35 years, while on the campaign trail.

Obama’s campaign, on the other hand, is echoing the sentiment of a significant percentage of our population: we need a dramatic departure from the status quo, and all Hillary offers is more of the same. Obama claims to be the true “agent of change” in this election, noting that another Clinton presidency would only be a revisiting of the 1990’s (as one political pundit remarked, “Her campaign slogan should be ‘Building a Bridge Back to the 20^th Century’”).

From a personality standpoint, Obama’s appeal over Clinton prompted one debate moderator to ask her outright: “What do you say to the people that are hesitating on the ‘likeability’ issue: people seem to like Barak Obama more?” In recruiting we call that “chemistry”. Obama clearly does a better job establishing a connection on a personal level with the voters than Clinton does. 

So in a hiring scenario, which is more important: experience or charisma?

As an executive recruiter, my objective is to identify candidates with strong track records of industry experience and accomplishment. Ultimately, my goal is to put in front of my client 2 candidates with comparable backgrounds and skill sets, thus allowing them to make a hiring decision based on chemistry.

In political contests, particularly presidential elections, it can feel as though you're being forced to choose between the lesser-of-two evils. As a mere voter, you can't very well scrap the entire slate of candidates and reboot the recruiting effort, so you have to weigh those issues that are most important to you and your family before casting your vote.

But in business you can. As a business owner or hiring manager, you should never feel as though you're having to choose between the "best of the bunch," and if you do find yourself in that situation, I would advise you to go find a new bunch.

Comments

[Star Borner]

Just stumbled onto your blog-very interesting post. I actually just wrote about the O factor and how it relates to business on my marketing blog. Check it out if you have a moment. Have a great day!

[Star Borner]

Just stumbled onto your blog-very interesting post. I actually just wrote about the O factor and how it relates to business on my marketing blog. Check it out if you have a moment. Have a great day!