Leadership and Identity

Understanding how multiple identities contribute towards the construction of a leader identity is key to the work of leadership. This book explores how leadership can be seen differently through exploring how indigenous artists participate in shaping, expressing and resisting cultural identities of both indigeneity and leadership. Based on in-depth interviews with Indigenous artists from Australia, Alaska and Hawaii, this book explores how they deliver unique, dynamic forms of leadership to their communities and society. Taking a critical perspective on the intersection of leadership and identity, this book deconstructs the tensions faced by indigenous leaders and reveals the complex dilemma at the heart of leadership practice. By conceptualising the connection between individuals' identities and their practice of leadership as a set of territories that we navigate inside of ourselves in order to do the work of leadership, this book captures and makes applicable the embodied dimensions of leadership which are often neglected in research and from which broader leadership scholarship can learn new lessons. This highly original way of critically rethinking leadership will be of interest to scholars and advanced students in leadership, as well as scholars of arts management and indigenous studies.