Gender and visionary leading: rethinking ‘vision’ with Bergson, Deleuze and Guattari

Abstract

In this article, we investigate the charge that women leaders fall short when it comes to ‘vision’. We track the roots of this charge, and the effects this has on women in the workplace, back to the binary representationalist logic that underpin gender stereotypes. We challenge these representationalist stereotypes by offering a more material account of how identities come into being, drawing on the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. In the last part of the article we explore an alternative understanding of ‘visionary leadership’ by drawing on Henri Bergson’s philosophy and ethics and that of Deleuze, which allows for the development of an alternative understanding of both agency and epistemology. We also rely heavily on Elizabeth Grosz’ reading of Deleuze and Bergson, and her valuable perspectives on the implications of these authors’ work for gender discourses.