ABSTRACT
Leadership development settings are framed by many scholars, practitioners, and leaders as legitimate sites for working upon one’s self. This inclusion of the self in leadership development, of personal development in the name of leadership development, is perhaps no surprise given the history of leadership development, the psychologisation of contemporary life, and the ‘identity turn’. What is surprising is the lack of critical studies that problematise this relationship. The majority of identity and leadership development literature tends to prescribe how self-growth or identity work should be undertaken, underlying which is a relatively unquestioned assumption that working upon the self is a necessary and positive aim for leadership development. In contrast, the purpose of this chapter is to scrutinise the targeting, framing, and treatment of the self in leadership development.
