Olivia Fox Cabane (on the science of charisma)

Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Charisma Myth, joins Dax to discuss how she turned charisma into a learnable skill. She explains how growing up in Paris without television or movies and receiving an autism diagnosis in her 40s led her to decode human interaction like a foreign language. The conversation covers body language’s surprising power in pitch meetings, why focused listening gives introverts a charisma advantage, and why genuine warmth can’t be faked. The episode also explores the dangers of too much charisma and the emerging science of digital charisma.