The Charisma Cues Framework
Master the warmth and competence signals that determine how others perceive you
The Charisma Cues Framework is built on a groundbreaking finding from Princeton University: highly charismatic, likable, and compelling people demonstrate a specific blend of two traits, warmth and competence. Warmth answers the question 'Can I trust you?' while competence answers 'Can I rely on you?' Together, they form the Charisma Scale, a quadrant where the ideal position is high on both dimensions. Most people have an imbalance, skewing either toward warmth (perceived as friendly but not impressive) or competence (perceived as smart but cold). Some fall into the Danger Zone, low on both dimensions, where they are overlooked and dismissed entirely. Van Edwards organizes all communication signals into four channels: Nonverbal Cues (body language, gestures, facial expressions), Vocal Cues (tone, pace, pitch, volume), Verbal Cues (word choice, email language, chat style), and Imagery Cues (clothing, workspace, visual presence). Each channel offers specific, learnable cues that either boost or undermine your warmth and competence scores. By diagnosing where you fall on the Charisma Scale and learning to send balanced signals across all four channels, you can dramatically change how others perceive and respond to you. The framework draws on original research from Science of People as well as studies from leading universities, and has been tested through hundreds of corporate workshops at companies including Amazon, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Intel, and Google.
- Charisma equals warmth plus competence, and both are communicated primarily through cues rather than words
- Warmth and competence cues account for 82 percent of our impressions of others
- You can have the best content in the world, but if it is not shared with the right charisma cues, it does not land
- Most people have an imbalance between warmth and competence that creates predictable social difficulties
- Cues operate across four channels: nonverbal, vocal, verbal, and imagery, and all four must be aligned
- Learning to decode the cues others send to you is as important as learning to send the right cues yourself
- Diagnose Your Charisma ProfileDetermine where you currently fall on the Charisma Scale by assessing whether you lean toward warmth (trustworthy, compassionate, collaborative, but not always seen as powerful or impressive) or competence (smart, capable, impressive, but not always approachable or kind). Take the Charisma Diagnostic to understand your natural tendency. People who are high warmth hear things like 'I always feel so comfortable around you' while people who are high competence hear 'You can be a little intimidating.' Your goal is to move toward the Charisma Zone where both dimensions are high.Pro tipAsk three trusted colleagues or friends which column sounds more like you: the warmth descriptors or the competence descriptors. External perception often differs from self-perception.WarningIf you rank low in both warmth and competence, you are in the Danger Zone where you are more likely to be overlooked, dismissed, pitied, and undervalued. This requires immediate attention across all four cue channels.
- Master Nonverbal CuesLearn the body language signals that project both warmth and competence. Researchers find that nonverbal signals account for 65 to 90 percent of total communication. Key competence cues include expansive posture, purposeful gestures, and steady eye contact. Key warmth cues include genuine smiles that reach the eyes, open palm gestures, and head tilts that signal attentiveness. Learn to spot the seven universal microexpressions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, contempt, disgust, and surprise) to decode what others are truly feeling beneath their words. Master the distinction between genuine and fake smiles, as a fake smile appears only on the bottom half of the face.Pro tipWatch for the mouth shrug, where someone pulls the corners of their mouth down. This signals disbelief or indifference and is a nonverbal way of saying 'I am done here.' When you see it, address the disconnect immediately.WarningAvoid one-sided shoulder shrugs when making important statements, as they signal low confidence and contradict whatever you are saying verbally.
- Optimize Vocal CuesLearn to use your voice as a tool for influence. Leaders use specific vocal patterns to convey authority and approachability. Avoid the question inflection (uptalk) when making statements, as research shows it signals low confidence and causes listeners to question your credibility. Avoid halt cues, which are out-of-place pauses in the middle of sentences that trigger listeners to worry you are being dishonest or switching from spontaneous to rehearsed speech. Practice using a lower pitch for authority and a varied tone for engagement. Vocal warmth comes from a genuine, relaxed tone while vocal competence comes from clear articulation and confident pacing.Pro tipRecord yourself during a typical conversation or presentation and listen for question inflections and halt cues. Most people are unaware they use them until they hear the recording.
- Refine Verbal and Imagery CuesOptimize your word choice in emails, chats, and conversation to project the right balance of warmth and competence. Then address your imagery cues: what your clothes, desk, background on video calls, and overall visual presence communicate about you, whether you intend those signals or not. Every visual element sends a cue that either supports or undermines your message. Align all four channels (nonverbal, vocal, verbal, imagery) so they reinforce rather than contradict each other, creating a coherent charismatic impression.Pro tipAudit your video call setup, email signature, and LinkedIn profile through the lens of warmth and competence. These digital touchpoints often create first impressions before you ever interact in person.
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff pitched his video doorbell company on Shark Tank with strong sales numbers and a compelling product demo. Yet every single Shark passed. His very first cue was a question inflection on his own name, signaling low confidence before the pitch even began. Throughout the presentation, he showed one-sided shoulder shrugs when discussing pricing, gulped nervously when challenged on key points, and used halt cues that made him sound rehearsed. Meanwhile, he missed critical signals from the Sharks: Robert Herjavec's fake smile, Mark Cuban's mouth shrug of disbelief. He addressed every verbal question logically but was blind to the nonverbal conversation happening simultaneously.
Van Edwards identifies a pattern where highly successful partnerships pair a warmth-dominant person with a competence-dominant person: Captain Kirk (warm) with Spock (competent), Warren Buffett (competent) with Charlie Munger (warm), Steve Wozniak (warm) with Steve Jobs (competent), and Ernie (warm) with Bert (competent). These pairings naturally hit the charisma sweet spot together, covering both dimensions that audiences and stakeholders need to feel both safe and impressed.
Van Edwards describes herself as a recovering awkward person who broke out in hives before school and whose first IM buddy was the school nurse. She discovered that people skills could be studied and learned like any academic subject, and began creating experiments to test social strategies. She built Science of People as a human behavior research lab, combining academic findings with real-world testing. Her first book, Captivate, explored 14 behavior hacks; Cues represents the deeper layer she discovered: that beneath all communication lies an invisible language of signals that predict outcomes with surprising accuracy. Researchers can predict leader charisma from five seconds of exposure, predict divorce from a single cue with 93 percent accuracy, and predict election outcomes from one minute of observing dominance signals.