The Leadership Object: A Critical Inquiry into the Intersectionality of Virtue, Power, and Meaning in Leadership Discourse

Tracing the rich component of virtue/goodness episteme and its accompanying power systems through leadership discourse, this theoretical inquiry seeks to discover the ontological essence of the leadership phenomenon. Utilizing Foucauldian, Husserlian and Derridean theoretical lenses, the power systems of the virtue/goodness episteme begins with an inspection of how this key leadership qualifier of materializes in leadership discourse from Classical Greek to present day. Virtue’s accompanying power systems are analyzed through a Foucauldian lens of pastoral power and power/knowledge. A discussion of meaning-making within a semiotic theoretical locus follows, which leads to a phenomenological reduction and deconstruction of the leadership phenomenon, revealing a three-component leadership object that is micro-social, interdependent, and non-classical in structure. A discussion of examples from modern leadership discourse that align with the properties of the leadership object potential for further study ensues.