%0 Journal Article
%T The in situ construction of leader identity in a leader¡¯s life story during an alumni talk to MBA students
%A Jonathan Clifton
%J Leadership
%@ 1742-7169
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1742715017706644
%X Analysis of leaders¡¯ life stories is widely regarded as a way of getting to the ¡°just whatness¡± of leader identity. However, most research that makes use of leaders¡¯ life stories considers the story to be a resource for investigating leader identity. Little, if any, research considers leaders¡¯ life stories as a topic for research and investigates the in situ, context sensitive, interactional accomplishment of such stories. Using a video-recorded extract of an alumni talk to MBA students at an American business school, taking a social constructionist approach to identity, and using positioning theory as a methodology, the purpose of this paper is to reveal the ¡°nitty gritty¡± of talking oneself into being as a ¡°leader¡± through the in situ telling of a life story as a ¡°leader¡¯s¡± life story. Findings indicate that such a leader identity is constructed from a complex interplay of (1) characters in the storyworld, (2) the here-and-now interaction of the participants during the storytelling, and (3) wider societal Discourses of what is, and is not, an acceptable leader identity
%K Identity
%K master narratives
%K positioning theory
%K discursive leadership
%K life stories
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1742715017706644