ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the "wicked problem" of understanding leadership discourse in the English National Health Service (NHS). "Leadership Development" has been the focus of the NHS for a while: but the extent to which this Leadership Development addresses the concerns of Gary Gemmill and Judith Oakley is debatable. For many throughout health care systems across the world, 'leadership' has become what Jackie Ford, Nancy Harding and Mark Learmonth call 'a way of being' rather than merely a job. Examining interview transcripts was a lengthy, messy process of reading, rereading, making notes, reflecting over the interview transcripts and deducing meaning to the transcripts in light of the psychodynamic theory. Photo elicitation has also been used in combination with other qualitative research methods to enrich the data and access deeper, subconscious thoughts. The chapter presents some of the results: fantasies noted in people's narratives about themselves and the people they work with as well as of leadership.
