We’ve been looking at Dr. Craig Kain’s research on magnetic people. So far we’ve seen what psychology describes as presence and humility are actually the natural fruits of something much deeper. Jesus didn’t come to change behavior. He came to change hearts.
Today we come to another quality Dr. Kain observed. Magnetic people smile easily.
Smiling might seem too simple to take seriously. But behind that small habit is something every leader should pay attention to.
Jesus’ critics called Him “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34). He spent so much time eating and enjoying ordinary people that even His enemies noticed. Their insult actually gives us one of the clearest pictures of what it felt like to be around Jesus.
People wanted to be with Him.
This matters because every leader sets the emotional tone. In some workplaces, you can feel the tension right away. People speak carefully, hide mistakes, and keep new ideas to themselves. In other workplaces with equally hard work, the mood is completely different. People laugh together, bounce back from setbacks, and speak honestly with one another. Pressure is still there, but it doesn’t control the culture.
The business world is starting to notice this too. Rich Sheridan, founder and CEO of Menlo Innovations, built his company around joy. He found that joyful teams are more creative, work better together, bounce back more quickly, and get better results. Joy isn’t a distraction from performance. It’s a competitive advantage.
The question is where that kind of joy comes from.
In His teaching about the vine and the branches, Jesus says, “Remain in Me. … I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:4, 11) Fruit grows naturally when branches remain connected to the vine. Joy is no different. It isn’t manufactured through positive thinking, personality, or sheer willpower. It is the natural fruit of abiding in Christ.
Many leaders think they need to stay positive all the time. But people know when a smile is real and when it isn’t. One has to be kept up. The other comes from within.
Leaders reproduce who they are before they reproduce what they know. Teams absorb the emotional posture of their leader. Anxiety spreads. Fear spreads. Cynicism spreads. But so do hope, peace, and joy. A leader who abides in Christ brings something into the room that pressure cannot easily shake.
Dr. Kain is right: people are drawn to those who smile easily and genuinely enjoy being with others. Jesus simply shows us where that joy comes from. It grows naturally in hearts that abide in Him.
For leaders, the real question isn’t, “How do I become more positive?”
It’s, “What am I abiding in?”
Next time, we’ll look at what happens when leaders pursue magnetism itself as the goal, and why that’s a trap more subtle and more common than it appears.
p.s. If leading from abiding rather than striving resonates with you, that’s exactly what we explore in Kingdom Factor Cohorts (KFCs). They’re small peer advisory groups for Christian CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs who want their leadership to flow from a deep relationship with Christ. Click here to learn more.