Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

Considering Charisma

Leonid Chernovetsky, embattled mayor of Ukraine's capitol Kiev, held a press conference this week to address suggestions that he should undergo psychiatric evaluation and that he may not be fit for office. Chernovetsky chose to face his detractors in his swimming trunks at a rec center having just proved his competence through a vigorous display that included jogging, pull-ups and swimming laps. "Look at my body, at how I express my thoughts. I am absolutely healthy. I think logically and philosophically." the man sometimes called Lenny Cosmos opined. A very successful and charismatic business man who rose to power in the wake of the Pro-West Orange Revolution, Chernovetsky is also an author (having written a book on how to become a millionaire) and claims to be the second best singer known to mankind. The blue-ribbon pipes, according to Chernovetsky, belong to none other than the man upstairs.

Chernovetsky claims that the future belongs to those who are "open and vulnerable" and in striking this pose he is similar to another charismatic leader who started his own orange revolution (which eventually led him to Eastern Oregon of all places). The rise and fall of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, referred to by his followers as Osho since his passing, is given careful consideration by author Tim Guest in his memoir My Life in Orange. Guest's personal account of living on the Bhagwan's communes details the effects of coming of age within a community outside the Western norms that attempt to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the group. Instead, his experience speaks to the pressures of adjusting to life within a hierarchy in which charisma served as the mechanism for leadership and information took a back seat to mysticism.

But why choose between information and mysticism when you can have both and give your charisma a boost while you're at it? Certainly having a copy of John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise by your bedside could do well to help you on your way to becoming a leader through charm, whit and an exhaustive knowledge of trivia so amazing it must be true, right? Hodgman's tome is described as an almanac of complete world knowledge compiled with instructive annotation and includes portions with headings such as "Nine Presidents Who Had Hooks for Hands" and "Colonial Jobs Involving Eels". The knowledge compiled here creates endless possibilities! For example, using Expertise's comprehensive list of hobo names (700!) and illustrated dictionary of useful hobo signs, one could gain entry into hobo society and perhaps even scale the ladder of leadership in that shadowy world. This hilarious reimagining of reality makes the wildest fantasies possible. Hodgman's fanciful writing doesn't just prepare a reader for rigorous intellectual debate it completely redefines the rules of engagement and the terms for success by stretching reality and history to such an extreme that they are barely recognizable.

Of course, even when we've done everything we could to prepare for a difficult situation (e.g. entering the aforementioned shadowy underworld of hobo society) we still sometimes find ourselves grasping for just the right turn of phrase to help us out of a jam. Books like Cynthia MacGregor's I'm at a Loss for Words: What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say can help. Here MacGregor has assembled simple suggestions for how to approach innumerable, awkward situations. This is practical advice that is equally useful in everyday life or in those rare moments outside the norm such as dealing with cranky, bizarre people in a position of authority. Drafting a letter of apology for arriving at a social engagement with a contagious ailment? I'm at a Loss has got you covered! Unfortunately, we may have to wait for next year's edition to learn how to explain to a mayor that proclamations of sanity while wearing Speedos are just plain awkward.