Gender, Authenticity and Leadership: Thinking with Arendt

197 Pages·2015·0.62 MB·English

by  Rita Gardiner

Gender, Authenticity and Leadership
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Gender, Authenticity and
Leadership
Thinking with Arendt
Rita A. Gardiner
The University of Western Ontario, Canada
© Rita A. Gardiner 2015
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified
as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number785998, of Houndsmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has
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the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries
ISBN: 978-1-137-46043-1
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To my family and friends, past, present and future
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Contents
List of Figures and Table x
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Authentic Leadership 10
Authentic leadership: An overview 11
From concept to practice 13
Ethics and efficiency 14
Alternative viewpoints 17
Vision 21
Leadership perspectives 24
Leadership training 26
Thinking with Arendt 29
Authority and leadership 33
Social conformity 35
Conclusion 37
3 Gendered Expectations 39
Gender troubles in leadership 40
Intersectionality 44
Women at the top … or not 46
Idealized roles 53
Conclusion 55
4 Enlightened Virtue 57
Changing values 62
Montesquieu 63
Diderot 67
Rousseau 69
Mary Wollstonecraft 74
Olympe de Gouges 76
The salon 78
The inauthenticity of assimilation 80
Conclusion 82
vii
viii Contents
5 Authenticity, Ethics and Leadership 85
Heidegger 86
Arendt 92
The Leader Principle 95
Morality in dark times 97
Critical thinking: An ethical guide 98
Responsibility and judgement 99
The danger of authentic visions 103
Courage in action 104
Conclusion 106
6 Troubling Method 108
Approaches to phenomenology 109
Methodological quandaries 112
Qualitative debates 114
Feminist concerns 117
Interviewing – Theory and praxis 119
Narrative 121
Research process 122
Reflexivity and ethics 126
Conclusion 128
7 Telling Tales Out of School 130
Crossing boundaries 131
The vision thing 133
A question of values 135
Authentic relationships 137
Leading with integrity 138
Thinking things through 140
A sense of possibilities 141
Situational leadership 143
Authentic leadership 145
Leading as an outsider 147
Conclusion 149
8 Themes 150
Questioning authenticity 151
Institutional challenges 152
Care and relationships 154
A sense of self 156
Gender and embodiment 158
Intersectional identity 160
Contents ix
Anxiety 162
Outlying themes 163
Conclusion 164
9 Concluding Remarks 166
Notes 171
Bibliography 173
Index 182