The Charisma Myth cover art

The Charisma Myth

How to Engage, Influence and Motivate People

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Charisma Myth

By: Olivia Fox Cabane
Narrated by: Lisa Cordileone
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

What if charisma could be taught?

What you'll find here is practical magic: unique knowledge, drawn from a variety of sciences, revealing what charisma really is and how it works. You'll get both the insights and the techniques you need to apply this knowledge. The world will become your lab and every person you meet a chance to experiment.

The Charisma Myth is a mix of fun stories, sound science and practical tools. Cabane takes a scientific approach to a heretofore mystical topic, covering what charisma actually is, how it is learned, what its side effects are and how to handle them.

©2013 Olivia Fox Cabane (P)2022 Penguin Audio Communication & Social Skills Personal Development Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions Inspiring Mythology

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Like Switch cover art
Better Small Talk cover art
The Social Skills Guidebook cover art
The Net and the Butterfly cover art
Conversationally Speaking cover art
The Way of the Superior Man cover art
Not Nice cover art
What Every BODY Is Saying cover art
The Secret cover art
Quick Confidence cover art
Crucial Conversations (Third Edition) cover art
Emotional Intelligence & Mastering the Art of Conversation cover art
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway cover art
The Coaching Habit cover art
Elite Communication Skills for Young Professionals cover art
The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business cover art

Critic reviews

"Engaging, clear and chock-full of wisdom, practical recommendations and uncommonly good sense." (Stephen Kosslyn, director, Center for Study of Behavioral Sciences at Stanford)

"Cabane has done us a big favour. She's woven solid science and engaging narrative into an instructive treatment of the role of charisma in leadership." (Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence)

"If you are interested in increasing your ability to be charismatic in your unique setting or employment, this book will give you direct skills to use." (Psychology Today)
All stars
Most relevant  
a book to keep going back to and learning from as you practice and improve.

full of excellent advice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is an excellent book on charisma and how to relate more positively to people. It contains a lot of advice and tools that are found in other similar self-help books of this genre, eg visualisation, body language, positive attitude etc but they are presented in a way that is relevant to the specific focus of the book, which is about acquiring and projecting charisma in personal interactions. The techniques given are such as to be long-lasting rather than just quick fixes. This book is well structured and easy to follow. It is likely to be helpful to anyone who reads it (listens to it) but those who spend a bit of effort in applying the techniques properly will gain the most benefit. The narrator is not the author but it is extremely well read and holds the listener's attention throughout. A very useful and practical guide to improving your relationships with strangers and those you already know, particularly in business settings.

Practical and relevant advice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Like many, I was always convinced that charisma was one of those mystical qualities which you either had or you didn’t - until I read this. The author explains exactly why people are charismatic- they convey patterns of actions and behaviours anyone can adopt. There are so many useful tips that I was frequently switching to my notes app whilst listening to this - starting to put these tips into practice I’ve found that they really do make a difference - and I am progressing in life because of it. I really liked the narrator of Cabane’s book in this audible version - she has a likeable voice which never grates.

A practical toolkit which really does de-mythologise charisma

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
-practical tips
-good start and overview, but a bit oversimplified at times.
-the volume of the recording is patchy, some parts are clearly re-recorded and pasted over, but always in a different volume and tone. distracting

good and practical content, recording has issues

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Insightful, useful and well written/narrated.
Ignore the negative reviews. I suspect those people just want a ‘how to’ guide. This book is more about using your own intuition to decide what works for you and what will work for you.

Insightful, useful and well written/narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is a lot about self confidence and public speaking which are undoubtedly linked to charisma. I love how the author links the various aspects that make one more charismatic.

Fantastic book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I feel like this book could be 3 hours long. Instead, it goes around in circles and talks about lots of topics without delving too deeply into them before jumping to another point.

if this is your first book about charisma it may be great for you, however, if you've listened to one or two about charisma, science of people, body language or communication, you're better off choosing another book

I also feel like the narrator is giving me a lecture, there's no major emphasis of points or major timings

This book is full of fluff

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
it's a decent self help book with lots of tools, however if you've already listened to a lot of self help books then this is more of the same. The issue with this audiobook is that it needs to be edited - there are times where she seems to move away from the mic to talk (lower voice) it doesn't happen much but it does happen a few times. Also she doesn't pause before she begins new sentences or headlines.

Needs editing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Listening to this audiobook felt like spending six hours with Tahani from The Good Place. Every few minutes, there was another story along the lines of, “I was invited by X multinational CEO, and with my three EASY steps, I tripled their annual revenue: talk slower, listen actively, and hold your shoulders back.”

Jokes aside, the book does introduce a few interesting concepts, but it doesn’t go much deeper than entry-level behavioral science.

Three simple steps!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The components or ideas are sound and interesting but could of been delivered in two chapters at most.
Details and specifics are completely missing, in fact it is more like describing fog, nothing tangable or concrete, vague and superfluous.
The first two chapters are advertising for the book.
The last chapter describes a man before and after the book as if it was written by a ten year old boy.

I would recommend this book if it was two chapters long or priced accordingly.

Four great components.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews