Presenting as a chief strategy officer: A discourse-analytical study of elite subjectivities and vulnerabilities

Abstract

Do elite strategists always project powerfulness in how they talk about their strategy work? Whilst the strategy discourse literature has often assumed that those occupying senior strategy positions project strength in how they negotiate power through discourse, our findings challenge and elaborate this assumption by revealing aspects of vulnerability and powerlessness in how they talk about themselves as elite strategists. Based on the strategy discourse of 48 elite strategists around the world, our findings extend the literature at the intersection of power and subjectivity, strategy discourse, and strategy work in three ways. First, we illuminate surprising vulnerability and powerlessness in some elite strategists’ discourses about themselves, an element that goes beyond the assumption of exclusivity and influence embedded in current studies. Second, we contribute to the discursive opening up of the strategist role itself, showing how elite strategists position themselves in contrast to a variety of ‘others’ in strategy work beyond traditional hierarchies. Finally, we advance understandings on discursive competence in the strategy professional field, illuminating new ways in which its discursive competitiveness and continuity is manifest.

Impression management and leadership in failing or failed business-to-business firms during and post-COVID-19: Empirical insights from Africa

“…Based on our purposive sampling supported by snowballing approach to reach our participants, we relied on the connection of a research team member who knew two participants – from Ghana and Nigeria, respectively. Consequently, we relied on these two initial contacts ( Knight & Jarzabkowski, 2022 ) to reach 38 other entrepreneurs who admitted that their businesses had failed or were failing due to the pandemic. Such a relationship was crucial in building trust and encouraging participants to share their personal experiences of the impact of the pandemic on their businesses with us.…”