Language of Leadership Narratives

Jonathan Clifton is an associate professor at the Université Polytechnique des Hauts-de-France and a member of the Groupe d’Études et de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Information et Communication (Geriico) at Lille University, France.Stephanie Schnurr is an associate professor at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. She is the author of Leadership Discourse at Work (2009), Exploring Professional Communication (2013), and Language and Culture at Work (with Olga Zayts, 2017).Dorien Van De Mieroop is an associate professor at KU Leuven, Belgium. She has published more than 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, authored a book with Jonathan Clifton (Master Narratives, Identities, and the Stories of Former Slaves, 2016), and edited a volume with Stephanie Schnurr (Identity Struggles, 2017).

This engaging book offers a refreshingly different social practice approach to the analysis of leadership narratives. Drawing on sources ranging from online celebrity interviews to workplace interactions and research interviews, the strengths of the consistently interdisciplinary approach are evident in the stimulating contribution the book makes to current theory in many areas. The illuminating analyses draw on a wide variety of approaches including CA, CDA and positioning theory. This book will prove invaluable to students of discourse analysis, humour, and media studies, as well as to leadership and narrative scholars of course. Janet Holmes, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand With this delightful book, the authors have achieved exactly what they set out to do: bridge a critical gap between leadership researchers interested in discursive approaches to leadership and linguists, who are interested in studying leadership. This no ordinary bridge, however. The authors have created an elegantly designed, skilfully constructed link that will be a genuine pleasure to cross from whichever side you travel. I look forward to observing the impact that this book will have on richer understandings of leadership.Brad Jackson, Griffith University, AustraliaCovering an impressive range of perspectives and aspects with considerable analytical depth, this volume constitutes a significant and strong contribution to the currently emerging understanding of leadership as something constructed, established and accomplished in social interaction. Magnus Larsson, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

• List of figuresAcknowledgments Introducing leadership narratives A social practice approach to narratives. Showcasing a positioning analysis of a canonical leadership story Beyond the canonical narrative. Exploring different genres of narratives from a discourse analytical perspective Filling the empty signifier of leadership through framing vignettes of workplace interaction as stories of leadership Exploring the dark side of leadership stories Constructing authentic leader identities through humorous anecdotes in everyday workplace encounters Challenging hegemonic notions of leadership through stories about leadership and gender Conclusions. Leadership narratives as social practice. A different way of approaching leadership AppendixGlossaryReferencesIndex