"Clearly, I have no rizz’: can a 60-year-old misanthrope polish up his pulling power?"

Charisma is also a slippery term, deployed to describe everything from a mystic’s magnetism to superficial charm. We all think we know it when we see it, but the adjective “charismatic” is lavishly applied to individuals whom other people find unremarkable: Formula One drivers, say. Barack Obama is considered charismatic, but so is Vladimir Putin. Nelson Mandela, Picasso, Napoleon, Joan of Arc and the Dalai Lama are routinely cited as historical exemplars of charisma.

“He has the charisma and the oomph and a real leadership personality,” said one voter in the midst of the current general election campaign. She was talking about Nigel Farage.

How did our definition of charisma end up being so accommodating?

As with rizz, the origin of the word charisma can be attributed to a single source, in this case the apostle Paul. Derived from the Greek for grace – charis – charisma refers to a gift divinely conferred (plural: charismata), and it’s widely accepted that the earliest written use of it in that sense comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

The charismata Paul had in mind were specific, and included healing, miracle-working, the knack of prophecy and the ability to speak in tongues. Such diverse talents bear little resemblance to the modern quality of charisma, except for the persistent idea that you either have it or you don’t. You can’t earn it, and you can’t learn it. Or can you?

“I absolutely believe you can,” says Sally Anne Smith, a business consultant who styles herself as the Charisma Coach. Smith teaches charisma to business groups, or one to one, in person or remotely. Many of her clients are people working at tech firms who have been promoted to leadership roles without necessarily having the skills to lead. “I’m working with the super-brains,” she says. “But, of course, what they can’t do very well is connect with people and inspire people with their work. None of them joined that company to do that.”

I’m meeting Smith over Zoom in the hope that she can teach me everything there is to know about charisma, but it turns out there is something I can teach her: she has never heard the word rizz before.

“I need this for my blog, thank you,” she says. “Is it R, I, Z, Z?” See url attached for my full article interview in the Guardian with Tim Dowling....