"Aura of command"

[asterroc]

I've often heard individuals described as having an "aura of command", "aura of power", or "aura of leadership". Such people are described as having a magnetic personality, of drawing people to them, of entering a room and everyone immediately snaps to attention, of having their every word paid attention to.

I have never met such a person. Do these people, does this quality, really exist? Or is it just a literary hyperbole that people have bought into and pretend exists in real life? Is it just really rare and that's why I haven't encountered it? Is it really common and it's just been the luck of the draw that I haven't met such people? Or am I just insensitive to it?

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I know/care less about politicians/politics than you, so maybe that's another reason I haven't seen it as much: that politics attracts those sorts of people, leaving a dearth in other fields.

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

I doubt it. I mean, politics is a strange hybrid field. The three people I mentioned are by trade, respectively, a career politician, a career diplomat, and a career physicist. And I've run across people like that in other fields. I've met professors and college presidents with that sort of ability. I've met lawyers with that sort of ability. I've met corporate executives with that sort of ability. Not all people in authority have it, but it's across the board in a variety of fields.