Abstract
Studies on women’s leadership development are common, but men’s leadership development remains under researched and undertheorized. Prompted by the 10-year anniversary of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In—one the highest selling women’s leadership development texts to date—and by the continued lack of any equivalent version of “lean in” for men, I make a case for men’s leadership development. Using a poststructural feminist lens on gender and informed by the extant literature on women’s leadership development, I construct a framework for a men’s leadership development that integrates three key practices from current feminist forms of women’s leadership development models: creating basic awareness of gender politics, mobilizing intersectionality to broaden that awareness, and fostering relationship-building. Far from reinforcing the centrality of men in organizations, a men’s leadership development predicated on these practices works to counter patriarchal organizational cultures and the problematic assumptions about masculinity and leadership that help sustain them. I conclude, however, that gender-based leadership development programs for either men or women ultimately create more problems than they solve, and I argue for a new form of gender-critical leadership development for everyone along the gender spectrum.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Publication date | 2022 |
Number of pages | 39 |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Event | The 20th International Studying Leadership Conference: Leadership and the Future of Humanity - University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, United Kingdom Duration: 11 Dec 2022 → 13 Dec 2022 Conference number: 20 https://www.sussex.ac.uk/business-school/research/events/islc |
Conference
Conference | The 20th International Studying Leadership Conference |
---|---|
Number | 20 |
Location | University of Sussex Business School |
Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
City | Brighton |
Period | 11/12/2022 → 13/12/2022 |
Internet address |
Keywords
- Gender
- Leadership development
- Lean In
- Men
- Feminist theory