Beyond Authenticity: Exploring the Empty Image of Leadership Through the Metaphor of Water in Daoist Philosophy

The obsession with authenticity in academic and popular discourses around leadership has hindered critical thinking regarding alternative images of leadership, necessitating a reevaluation of leadership from post-colonial, non-western perspectives. In line with extant literature of critical leadership studies (CLS) (Alvesson and Einola, 2019; Ford and Harding, 2011; Nyberg and Sveningsson, 2014) concerning authentic leadership theory (ALT), this conceptual paper draws on Daoist philosophy to examine and question the fixation on authenticity in contemporary leadership thinking by exploring the critical potential of an ancient Chinese text, Daodejing (or Laozi). Given the radical changes and bewildering complexities faced by global leaders (Uhl-Bien, 2021a, 2021b), ALT, which combines a heroic and moral self-identity (authenticity) with a sacred realm severed from ordinary followers and organizations (leadership), appears inadequate in addressing these contemporary challenges. Exploring the use of leadership images from the Daodejing, this article builds on established approaches in leadership studies of metaphors (Alvesson and Spicer, 2011) and images (Spoelstra, 2013, 2018), aiming at a Daoist rethinking of contemporary leadership phenomena that have already been discussed. In contrast to ALT, the Daoist image of leadership, exemplified by the metaphor of water, is marked by the Leitmotif of emptiness. This emptiness comprises two further philosophical dimensions: (1) moral emptiness and (2) productive emptiness. This is evident in water’s efficacy to exist below and flow between various mundane elements and values, embracing their course of transformation and adjusting to the unfamiliar. As such, the Daoist leadership ethics associated with the empty image of water goes beyond the morally positive qualities of sincerity, transparency, selfawareness that underpin the model of the authentic self. Instead, a Daoist leader constantly deals with a paradox that involves the negative receptivity and the critical affirmation of the changes and complexities faced by leaders and followers in contemporary organizations. With the empty image of water in Daodejing, this paper aligns with a Daoist philosophy of ‘paradox politics’ (Moeller, 2006), which is further reflected in the dual relationships of leadershipfollowership and leadership-organization. In Daoism, the traditional antagonism between leadership and organization is transformed, with leaders embodying the role of an ‘underman’ (in contrast to Nietzschean ‘overman’) who supports and serves the organization rather than acting as a heroic figure seeking to redeem it. Furthermore, Daoist leader-follower dynamics prioritize interpersonal and interspecies attunement and learning over the portrayal of leadership as the sole possessor of wisdom responsible for guiding and transforming the followers. Instead of idealizing an authentic leadership image rooted in the paradigm of the charismatic leader (Spoelstra, 2018), this paper employs the critical image of Daoist leadership to subvert the faith in authenticity and proposes an alternative belief rooted in an embodied feminine figure, who exists below and between the mundane world, relinquishing control over followers and organizations rather than lifting them up to a higher sphere. Therefore, a Daoist leader eschews authenticity through an ongoing struggle with the common pitfalls of ALT, especially considering its tendencies towards excessive moralization and self-exclusion. Overall, this paper aims to contextualize the Daoist figure of leadership in today’s leadership discourse and juxtapose it with the ALT. In so doing, the aim is to highlight the negative-receptive yet critical-affirmative dimensions of the empty image of water, which fosters the heterogeneity and contingency of organizational mundanities, thereby struggling to avoid the imposition of rigid moral authority by leaders (Johnsen, 2018; Śliwa et al., 2013). Additionally, the paper echoes the idea of continuously surpassing the anthropocentric limits of leadership, thus enhancing a leader’s affective capacity in anticipation of the future unknown that extends beyond the human (Raffnsøe and Staunæs, 2014; Staunæs and Raffnsøe, 2019). Hence, this article conceives Daoist philosophy as an avenue for reconsidering the relevance of ALT and addressing critical issues in contemporary leadership studies, situating Daoism beyond the traditional East-West dichotomy when thinking about leadership.