Professor Martin Kilduff, now at the University of Cambridge, recently presented to our group a new study he carried out on charisma. Although this particular piece examines how leaders affect team performance, his findings may be relevant to your question. The study is not published yet but an abstract is available at http://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/nnnr/seminars2010ht.htm

To echo what other readers have said, it would be a great loss to see this blog go. I love the storytelling and the wisdom that comes out of your experiences and find that a range of professionals benefit from it. I read this blog to get practical tips, insightful commentary and real examples of how and why things work or don't work. Your recent post on "Sociomateriality: More Academic Jargon Monoxide" spurred a controversial discussion in our small academic department after I forwarded it on thinking it was refreshingly candid and funny. Controversial posts that spur meaningful conversations and make people reevaluate the status quo - or at least talk openly about it- is one of the ways this blog has an impact. Blogspot is decent enough and very easy to use but doesn't have many customization options.