Cognition · Branding · Ethics
The most decisive forces shaping your future are often invisible.
Before organisations compete for market share, investment, talent or legitimacy, they compete for a place in people’s minds. The ability to shape understanding, create meaningful connections and earn trust is becoming a strategic asset. CHARISMA helps organisations, institutions and territories understand the cognitive environments in which they operate — and build responsible, measurable influence that strengthens performance, legitimacy and resilience.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
Visibility is not influence
An organisation may be visible without being understood, well known without being preferred, credible without inspiring commitment. Influence begins when perceptions, emotions and ethical judgements converge to support meaningful decisions.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
Three inseparable dimensions
- Cognition — What audiences understand. Identify the mental models, narratives and beliefs through which stakeholders interpret your organisation.
- Branding — What audiences feel. Translate strategic intent into distinctive symbols, experiences and associations that people can recognise and relate to.
- Ethics — What audiences consider legitimate. Align the influence you seek with principles, conduct and accountability that can withstand scrutiny.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
Why does perception now determine value?
Generative AI, information saturation, crises of trust, fragmented narratives and cognitive warfare are creating an environment in which reality alone no longer produces acceptance. The organisations that matter will be those capable of organising meaning, stabilising perceptions and embodying a credible vision.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
The real market and the cognitive marketplace
Human behaviour is not shaped by reality alone — but by the way reality is perceived.
- The real market — What the organisation produces: products, services, prices, performance, infrastructure, operations and compliance.
- The cognitive marketplace — What audiences retain: perceptions, representations, narratives, emotions, collective beliefs, interpretive frames, legitimacy and trust.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
From communication to the architecture of meaning
- From creating content to creating cognitive frames.
- From managing image to structuring collective perception.
- From producing storytelling to organising the interpretation of reality.
- From practising compliance to setting credible societal standards.
- From corporate responsibility to moral leadership.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
From the cognitive marketplace to the real economy
The competition for attention, meaning and legitimacy increasingly shapes economic and institutional outcomes. CHARISMA connects the invisible dynamics of perception with the tangible realities of markets, governance and collective action.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
How does CHARISMA turn influence into a capacity for action?
- Ethics & sustainability — Governance, ESG, sustainability and anti-corruption.
- Branding & communication — Nation, place and corporate branding; public diplomacy; strategic marketing; influence and crisis communication.
- Research & investigation — Perception and impact studies; due diligence; semiotic and sociological analysis; social-media audits.
- Human & cognitive sciences — Social psychology, behavioural psychology, neuroscience and semiotics.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
Three proprietary solutions
- Strategic Influence Scan — Assess your ability to shape what target audiences think, feel and consider legitimate.
- Cognitive Dominance — Understand the implicit rules of a market or society and establish a legitimate frame of reference.
- Ethical Safeguard Framework — Assess an organisation’s ability to withstand a cognitive and moral attack.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
Nine CHARISMA tools
- Cognitive Mapping — Map, understand and reconfigure a market at the level of perception.
- Stakeholder Alignment Triangle — Test whether a narrative appears true, desirable and fair.
- Cognitive Scanner — Understand what audiences actually think before they react.
- Stakeholder Influence Matrix — Prioritise stakeholders by influence and degree of support.
- Narrative Generator — Design narratives capable of structuring perceptions, emotions and behaviour.
- Cognitive Brand Platform — Build the infrastructure for a brand’s responsible influence.
- Impact Engineering — Turn impact into influence, power and standard-setting capacity.
- International Narrative Passport — Cross cultural borders without losing strategic coherence.
- Sensory and Symbolic Explorer — Reveal the symbols, emotions, sensations and imaginaries associated with a brand.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
Influence in the real world
CHARISMA case studies examine how narratives, symbols, legitimacy and collective perceptions shape brands, public debate and international competition. Existing case studies remain in their original publication language until editorial review.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
Developing the ability to govern the invisible
CHARISMA Institute combines conceptual frameworks, practical cases, proprietary tools and participants’ own strategic challenges. Programmes include the CHARISMA Masterclass, Executive Committee Levels 1 and 2, Boards of Directors Levels 1 and 2, and Leadership Teams Levels 1 and 2.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
Karim Keita, founder of CHARISMA
For more than thirty years, Karim Keita has explored influence and transformation through branding, marketing, negotiation, sustainability and ethics. His conviction is simple: cognitive tools must serve a more lucid, sovereign and responsible form of influence.
CHARISMA
The CHARISMA approach
A founding doctrine
The CHARISMA manifesto explains why the cognitive marketplace has become decisive, how influence systems can be read and where the new levers of legitimacy are emerging. The downloadable document currently remains available in French.
CHARISMA
Strategic perspective
Begin with a diagnosis
How influential is your organisation — beyond visibility and reputation? Our initial self-assessment helps identify strengths, vulnerabilities and blind spots across the three dimensions of influence.