The Key to Getting That Promotion Might Be ‘Rizz’
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Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, July 24th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. There are lots of ways to succeed in your career. Do the job well. Be a leader. Maybe take on a few extra projects. But there's another quality that can be just as impactful. It's what many in Gen Z call R.I.S.S.
It's less about kind of them putting on a show or a performance, less about you saying like, oh, that person's so charming, more about how they make you feel.
We'll talk to WSJ Work and Life columnist Rachel Feinzig about the importance of charisma or riz after the break.
The key to getting ahead at work might be, as Gen Z puts it, the amount of Riz you have.
What does Gen Z mean by 'rizz' and how is it defined?
Wall Street Journal Work and Life columnist Rachel Feinstein joins me. All right, Rachel, it's time for me to come clean. I am not part of Gen Z. So tell me, what exactly is Riz?
JR, you and I both, I am a geriatric millennial, as some people call us. I will do my best to translate Gen Z. Riz is this sense of kind of style, magnetism. I think there could be a dash of attractiveness there, but just the person that people gravitate towards. And when we talk about it at work, what we're really talking about is charisma, which is all about how you connect with people. It's actually not totally about a charm offensive. It's really about connecting with other people and inspiring them.
So how would you recognize that in a coworker?
It's less about kind of them putting on a show or a performance, less about you saying like, oh, that person's so charming, more about how they make you feel. Charles Duhigg, who's an author of a book called Super Communicators, told me it's really a state that you elicit in other people. And so you recognize the other person as charming. They almost make you feel charming or funny. Or when you're talking to them, you might feel inspired. You might feel like you trust them. You just might really feel like you like them.
It almost sounds like it's a core skill of a politician.
Totally. I think we see it a lot in politicians, in all kinds of leadership. I mean, it's really about communication. Like what we're talking about here is just really, really skillful communication.
How does the charisma or riz that someone has differ from their skills? And what role does each play in their career track?
I think of this as like almost an example of a soft skill. And what Charles Duhigg told me is that, you know, you may be hired for your skills. So there we're thinking of kind of technical skills, how good you are at the job, but you'll be promoted for your charisma. He said this is leadership. This is the ability to kind of carry people and move them forward. And that's the kind of thing that can get you really noticed at work and propel you up the corporate ladder, if that's something you're interested in.
Is Riz a teachable characteristic?
Yes, I was very surprised by how adamant a lot of people were that this is teachable. I figured like a good deal of this was something that you're born with. But a lot of people told me no, both experts and people that I consider charismatic. And when I reached out to these people, I was really surprised to find that a lot of them said, no, I consider myself more introverted. Some people told me like I consider myself to be awkward at heart. Like that's how I see myself. And this is something I really worked on for years.
To someone who's shy, this might sound like they need to become an extrovert to succeed and it might cause them to shiver. Do they have to change who they are to put Riz to good use?
No. I heard from a communication coach, Vanessa Van Edwards, that you don't have to become this bubbly extrovert.
How is 'rizz' or charisma different from job skills when it comes to promotions?
You don't have to be the life of the party. Sure, that's one flavor of charisma. But again, this is really just about connection, and you can connect with people all sorts of ways. So for introverts, she recommends leaning into nonverbal cues, things like the way you position your hands or the way that you nod. You want to show that you're really engaged.
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