Understanding Leadership Identity Through Our Own Stories

Recently, Wei Zheng, Alyson Meister, and Brianna Barker Caza published a study in Human Relations titled “The Stories that Make Us: Leaders’ Origin Stories and Temporal Identity Work.” They wanted to provide insights into how stories of origin play a key role in leaders’ understanding of their own identities and roles as influencers. They explored how leaders (92 men and women) made sense of becoming a leader (what they called origin stories) and doing leadership (what they called enactment stories). The authors argued that how an individual tells their own stories of origin and how they believe they enact leadership reflects how they perceive themselves—leadership identity. I was most interested in this article because I knew the results had strong gender implications. Here are some of my core takeaways from this report:

Background & General Findings

The authors argued that a leader’s identity is typically tied to a role in an organization or in society itself. Some leadership roles are assigned to individuals while some are more ambiguous or may seem unattainable. The expectations of a leader are often variable because leadership roles are not only shaped by the organization’s expectations, but also by the personal feelings of the ones who are being led. It seems that we tend to put our own “lens” on our identities, especially when we tell our own stories. And, these lenses reflect how we perceive ourselves as people.

In this study, the researchers discovered that even though each of the study participants’ stories were unique, the themes that emerged from their narratives could be categorized into four “frames” through which they “understand, articulate, and enact their leader identities”:

1.  Being: This frame suggests that the individuals always thought of themselves as leaders and actively took on leadership roles.
2. Engaging: Individuals using this frame only feel like leaders when they are actively performing a leadership activity.
3. Performing: This frame suggests that individuals do not consider themselves a leader until they have achieved a particular role.
4. Accepting: This frame is often used by those who did not think of themselves as leaders until they realized that others see them as one.

Gender Findings

Zheng, Meister, and Barker Caza discovered that gender played a significant role in leaders’ perceptions of themselves and their ability to lead. Although all four frames were represented in both men’s and women’s stories of origin and enactment, there were significant differences in two of them. They found that similar numbers of men and women adopted the being (11:11) and accepting (6:6). However, the engaging lens was more often used by women than men (24:11) and the performing frame was used more often by men than by women (5:18).

According to the authors, these findings could suggest that men and women have differences in how they conceptualize leadership and take on leadership roles. This could help explain why some women are more likely to take on more non-critical tasks or step up into a leadership role in times of crisis. This frame reflects more enactment stories than becoming stories and could explain the extra burden women feel as they continue taking on tasks in order to sustain their identities as leaders rather than simply existing as one.

Conclusion

Understanding the differences in self-perception between men and women enables us to recognize the constraints that leaders put on themselves to fit their own narrative. Allowing individuals to experiment with these frames could help them develop their own identities and recognize where advancement could be limited or limiting. How leaders describe themselves can shape their own leadership style and tie them to one concept of leadership—whether or not they are conscious of these perceptions.  

Thanks to Wei Zheng, Alyson Meister, and Brianna Barker Caza for this excellent article. In addition, thanks to Human Relations for being willing to continue to publish strong qualitative research that is sometimes considered “outside the box.” I have looked at stories of origin through the years as I have interviewed women leaders in many contexts (see On Becoming a Woman Leader and Developing Leadership), and I have found that when women carefully reflect on their lifelong leadership development journeys, it strengthens their leadership identities which can propel them toward more formal leadership roles moving forward.

Dr. Susan R. Madsen is a global thought leader, author, speaker, and scholar on the topic of women and leadership. She is also the Inaugural Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project. Learn more about her speaking and consulting work here.