Enacting the 'true self': Towards a theory of embodied authentic leadership

This paper argues that although authentic leadership may be rooted in the notion of a ‘true self’, it is through the embodiment of that ‘true self’ that leaders are perceived as authentic or not. In making this claim, we consider ways in which a somatic sense of self contributes to the felt sense of authenticity, and how through engaging with somatic cues, leadership can be performed in a way which is experienced as authentic, both to the leader and to those he or she seeks to lead. In developing our ideas further, we draw from the acting theory of Stanislavski (1936a, 1936b, 1961) to explore how authentic dramatic performances are created, focusing on the role of emotional memory, the magic ‘if’ and physical aspects of performances. We propose three key components of a resulting theory of how embodied authentic leadership is created: self exposure, relating, and making lead

Leadership then at all events

Theory purporting to identify leadership remains over-determined by one of two underlying fallacies. Traditionally, it hypostatizes leadership in psychological terms so that it appears as the collection of attributes belonging to an independent, discrete person. By contrast, contemporary perspectives approach leadership by focusing on the intermediary relations between leaders and followers. We retreat from both of these conceptions. Our approach perceives these terms as continuous within each other and not merely as adjacent individuals. The upshot is that leadership should be understood as a more fundamental type of relatedness, one that is glimpsed in the active process we are here calling events. We suggest further work consistent with these ideas offers an innovative and useful line of inquiry, both by extending our theoretical understanding of leadership, but also because of the empirical challenges such a study invites.

Understanding Arts-Based Methods in Managerial Development

With the rising use of arts-based methods in organizational development and change, scholars have started to inquire into how and why these methods work. We identify four processes that are particular to the way in which arts-based methods contribute to the development of individual organization managers and leaders: through the transference of artistic skills, through projective techniques, through the evocation of essence, and through creating artifacts such as masks, collages, or sculpture, a process we call making. We illustrate these processes in detail with two case examples and then discuss the implications for designing the use of arts-based methods for managerial and leadership development

The reflexive journal: Inside the black box

It was Habermas who commented on the fact that knowledge is never interest free. But it often appears to be on the surface. Journals with their rigorous systems of double blind peer review certainly do their best to avoid partiality and add to the trustworthiness of the process. But their deeply routinised systems contribute to the “black boxing” of knowledge production. This article wishes to examine aspects of interests in knowledge. It does this by three routes of analysis. First it presents data on journal structures and process. Second it finds patterns and trends in knowledge development. Third it critically reflects on the nature of new knowledges produced. In doing so it seeks to make the workings of the black box of Annals more transparent

Leading Beautifully: How Mastery, Congruence and Purpose Create the Aesthetic of Embodied Leadership Practice

This paper explores the territory of leading as an embodied activity through the lens of the aesthetic category of ‘the beautiful’. Its starting point is that although much of the literature about effective leadership practice focuses on leadership behaviours, little is written about the way in which those behaviours are actually enacted. The musician, Bobby McFerrin serves as a case study for identifying three key aspects of leading beautifully: mastery, congruence between form and content, and purpose. These are further considered through reference to the concept of beauty as theorised by the philosophers Plato and Plotinus. The paper then considers how ‘leading beautifully’ might differ from other conceptualisations of leadership and discusses the particular insight it brings to understanding the nature of leading as a relational ph

Back to the workplace: How organisations can improve their support for management learning and development

This paper explores how organisations can become more sophisticated at supporting transfer of learning, by identifying the perceived barriers and facilitators to transfer of learning, by examining a range of individual characteristics and workplace features associated with these barriers and facilitators and then relating these to the type of programme that managers undertake. The longitudinal survey methodology and programme typology used in the research are described. Findings highlight 26 perceived barriers and 17 facilitators to the transfer of learning, significant associations are shown with particular features such as mentoring and personal values. The paper goes on to identify the characteristics associated with a lack of transfer and suggests a tentative model of perceived influences on transfer of learning. Based on this research, it is concluded that it is important to take programme learning design into account when considering support for transfer of learning from management development programmes back to the workplace

Realising the potential of art-based methods in managerial learning: embodied cognition as an explanatory view of knowledge

Although art-based methods are increasingly being used in management learning interventions (Taylor & Ladkin, 2009) there is little understanding about the means by which these methods foster particular learning outcomes. This conceptually-based paper addresses this concern through revisiting the philosophy of art and education (Arnheim, 1969; Dewey, 1934; Eisner, 2002; Langer, 1951) in light of recent theoretical developments in neuroscience known as embodied cognition (Niedenthal, Barsalou, Winkielman, Krauth- Gruber, & Ric, 2005; Rohrer, 2007; Wilson, 2002). We propose that embodied cognition’s recognition of the central role played by ‘simulation’ (Barsalou 1999, 2008) in learning processes offers unique insights into the mechanisms through which arts-based methods work and how they differ from (other) experiential learning interventions. This exploration leads to two propositions, a) stimulating new activation patterns in the way the brain engages with a phenomenon enables new possibilities for dealing with that phenomenon; and b) making art is a means by which those new activation patterns can be created. The paper concludes by demonstrating the power of this understanding by re-interpreting three scholarly accounts of the use of art-based methods within manager development, and suggesting implications for how such interventions can more fully realise their developmental potential

Caring beyond kinship: applying Jane Addams\u27 social ethic to the organizational domain

As an approach to ethical engagement, ‘care ethics’ has largely been seen as appropriate to the realm of the personal: within family relations, health and well-being contexts, and education, particularly that of young children. Principle or justice-based ethical approaches, with their emphasis on fairness and universal applicability, have been seen as more apt orientations to use within organizational contexts. The kind of particularized attention central to an ethic of care is potentially problematic within contexts in which treating everyone ‘equally’ is a guiding principlehttps://aura.antioch.edu/facchapters/1022/thumbnail.jp