The paradox of postheroic leadership: An essay on gender, power, and transformational change

Abstract

This essay explores a number of paradoxes embedded in new—commonly called postheroic—models of leadership. It argues that although these models emphasize leadership as a social process dependent on social networks of influence, the concepts are often presented as gender and, to a lesser degree, power neutral, not only in theory, but in practice. The essay explores this phenomenon, arguing that the concepts are not gender, power, or sex neutral but instead are rooted in a set of social interactions in which “doing gender,” “doing power,” and “doing leadership” are linked. It explores these dynamics and suggests that theories of leadership that fail to consider the gender/power implications of social interactions and networks of influence may lead to the cooptation of these models, resulting in their being brought into the mainstream discourse in a way that silences their radical challenge to current work practices, structures, and norms.