On December 3rd, the Oxford University Press announced that “rizz” was its Word of the Year for 2023. A shortening of “charisma,” rizz was first recorded by the British publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary in 2022. (The editors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, who chose authentic last week as its Word of the Year, included rizz on its short list of year-defining terms.)
Dictionary.com asserts that rizz was popularized in late 2021 by the YouTube and Twitch personality Kai Cenat via his “Rizz Academy” web series. But it was its use by the actor Tom Holland in mid-June—who claimed in an interview to lack this essential quality—that seems to have made rizz go viral.
Rizz may be a new way of referring to charisma, but the concept itself has been around for a long time. Charisma is a Greek term that dates from the first century CE. It originally referred to a spiritual gift or talent, such as prophecy or speaking in tongues. The word appears in the epistles of Paul and is still used in its original sense by Charismatic Christians today.
A decidedly more secular meaning for the term arose in the early twentieth century and first appeared in the writings of the German sociologist Max Weber. In 1922, he used charisma to describe a form of authority that emanates from individuals, as opposed to legal or traditional authority.
Charisma can be difficult to define, although it seems to be associated with certain aspects of one’s personality. A test for charisma, the Hogan Development Survey, measures personality traits like boldness, colorfulness, mischievousness, and imagination.
Is physical attractiveness an essential attribute for a charismatic leader? John F. Kennedy was described as possessing charisma—but so was the Russian mystic Rasputin, who was frequently described as having bad table manners and even worse hygiene.
How about strong displays of emotion? Some charismatic leaders, like Fidel Castro or Adolf Hitler, gave long emotional speeches, whereas others, such as Barack Obama and Steve Jobs, gave public addresses that were cooler and more detached.
Research on charisma suggests that it can be taught. In an experiment, researchers instructed managers to use rhetorical tactics associated with charisma, such as metaphors and rhetorical questions. The individuals who received such training were perceived as giving more charismatic speeches.
In addition, how one dresses can affect perceptions of charisma—although the effect may be somewhat counterintuitive. One study found that attire that clashed with expectations, such as informal clothing worn to a formal event, increased a leader’s approval and charisma ratings.
Finally, it has been shown that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Leadership effectiveness increases with perceived charisma, but only up to a point. Highly charismatic individuals tend to be focused on the big picture and are less effective at monitoring the essential but mundane activities of their followers.
In its most recent incarnation, the concept has become associated with seduction; Kai Cenat, for example, uses rizz synonymously with the slang term “game.” It is also used as a verb, as in the phrase “rizz up,” to refer to engaging in seduction.
Semantic shifts of this type are not uncommon, and it will be interesting to see whether the sexual connotations of charisma supersede the term’s traditional association with leadership and authority.
References
Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2011). Can charisma be taught? Tests of two interventions. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10 (3), 374-396.
Maran, T., Liegl, S., Moder, S., Kraus, S., & Furtner, M. (2021). Clothes make the leader! How leaders can use attire to impact followers’ perceptions of charisma and approval. Journal of Business Research, 124, 86-99.
Potts, J. (2009). A history of charisma. Springer.
Vergauwe, J., Wille, B., Hofmans, J., Kaiser, R. B., & De Fruyt, F. (2018). The double-edged sword of leader charisma: Understanding the curvilinear relationship between charismatic personality and leader effectiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114 (1), 110-130.
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