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Take your lead: The pleasures of power in universities and beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2019

Jonathan Robert Gosling
Jonathan Robert Gosling*
Affiliation:
Pelumbra Ltd, 54 Velwell Road, Exeter EX4 4LD, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jonathan.gosling@exeter.ac.uk
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Abstract

Ken Parry once asked me why I wanted to take the lead on a particular initiative. This paper summarises the answer I'd like to have given him. Taking the lead is pleasurable in three principle ways: it affirms or modifies self-concept, confirms a degree of control over the external world and promises self-transcendence through relationship with others. The paper proposes three categories: identity, influence and interaction, as the basis of an analytic framework for further research into the pleasures of power.

Keywords

power and politicsleadershipmanagement effectivenessorganisational behaviour
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 25 , Special Issue 3: ‘Take your Lead’: In Search of Very Short, Fairly Interesting, and Reasonably Impactful Contributions to the Future of Leadership Studies , May 2019 , pp. 389 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2019 

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Footnotes

Dedicated to Professor Ken Parry.

References

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