dear Mia,I believe that charisma is mostly an ability to listen to and understand people so that you can respond to them in the way they anticipate and expect.

This include the message of course, but also and very importantly the way it is delivered. [ tone of voice, timing, body language...]
Actors or politicians are often seen as charismatic because they have a natural or learned ability for responding to people expectations [and often regardless of what they say...:-)]


For example in a conversation a "charismatic"person  will seize conversation  with perfect timing and "a propos",everybody then listening to him/her

My 2 cts on the subject  :-)

Dear Jean François,
Thanks, this is an interesting idea I hadn't considered -- that somehow charisma consists in fulfilling hoped-for expectations, in bringing someone their dreams on a platter (incarnating a certain "ideal," even if this ideal is very personal to them), rather than, say, drawing them out of their own world into yours. It's a theory which explains a lot. It's certainly true of the way many politicians interact with people, validating their experience, hearing their personal stories and making them feel as if the details of their lives really matter. And it's true of many people I know who can play the part of "ideal listener," who by some cocktail of sympathy, suggestiveness and flattery can tame the crankiest stranger into self-expression.
 
I wonder whether this is similarly true of very powerful political/religious figures -- the sort who would not be inclined to listen to you unless they agreed with what you were saying. Perhaps there it's the same kind of phenomenon, simply in a different form? Projection, for instance.

Sometimes charisma is about pleasing people, but charisma is also connected to power. People like leaders and they respect people who are respected by others. Sometimes a guy walks into the room and everyone notices his presence. A guy like that doesn't need to say a lot to be charismatic, if everyone wants him on their side.