Open AccessCitius, Altius, Fortius: Managers’ quest for heroic leader identities
Author(s) -
Thibaut Bardon,
Andrew D. Brown,
François-Régis Puyou
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.908
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1461-7323
pISSN - 1350-5084
DOI - 10.1177/13505084211030644
Subject(s) - governmentality , neoliberalism (international relations) , sociology , repertoire , public relations , gender studies , political economy , political science , law , politics , physics , acoustics
In this paper, we draw on Foucault’s concept “governmentality” to show how a cohort of middle-aged senior managers who engaged in competitive endurance sports fabricated (avowed) “heroic” leader identities drawing on this repertoire of discursive resources. Neoliberalism constitutes a form of governmentality which encourages people to regard themselves as autonomous and to aspire to personal fulfillment by investing entrepreneurially in themselves as “human capital.” Healthism, which requires individuals be responsible for their own health and wellbeing, is one program by which this is accomplished. We analyze managers’ talk about themselves as people who self-examined, and sought continually to transform (improve) themselves, to avow identities as superior (heroic) leaders. Our study contributes to the literature on governmentality by showing how in neoliberalism “healthism” constructs managers as enterprising selves.