Bodies and Persona in Constructing Leadership Capital
Amanda Sinclair · ANU Press eBooks · 2008
Identities, bodies and leadership capitalIn this chapter, I explore two interrelated aspects of public leadership that have received little attention.The first is 'identity' and I argue that leaders are under new pressures to produce 'appropriate' leadership identities (Alvesson and Willmott 2002).Second, I draw attention to the importance of bodies and bodily performance in public calculations of leadership and who delivers it.I begin by defining the concepts of identities and bodies and their importance in producing leadership capital.Drawing on the results of a pilot study into representations of leaders' bodies, I argue that leaders' identities and bodies are under new scrutiny.Leadership is at least partially established by leaders giving an impression of (cerebral) intelligence, invincibility and invulnerability -of mind over body.The leadership of women, and potentially leaders of different racial and cultural backgrounds is undermined by their bodies being fore-grounded in public representations.Women leaders face particular challenges, expected to establish leadership in the context of stereotypical views that see them as women and bodies, not leaders.How should leaders react?One commonly-argued option is for women leaders to ensure their bodies are camouflaged.I conclude the challenge is a more complex task of identity work for leaders: acknowledging how one may be represented and scrutinised and seeking to choose how one reacts to these conventions in order to subvert them.