Listening to the “Self” in Leader Self-development : Contextualizing self-development activities of leaders: A qualitative study

Abstract: Leader self-development is promoted as an alternative approach to leadership development within organizations. Fast-growing organizations especially benefit from the self- development activities of leaders. The tech industry is a sector that grows rapidly and thus offers an interesting context for this study. Moreover, practical perspectives on leader self- development are lacking in the current literature. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to include a perspective on self-development activities from the leader’s standpoint and examine how the organizational setting related to these activities. The related theories were deduced from the literature and empirically examined by 11 semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted with managerial leaders in hierarchical organizations from the tech industry in Germany and the Netherlands. The findings showed that the “self” is limited in self-development activities. Leaders cannot practice self-development in complete isolation from the organizational setting. Instead, leaders are reliant on external factors and are intricately interconnected with their environment whereas the organization drives the intentional self-development activities of the leaders. A dynamic between the individual and the organization was revealed, as leaders are not only influenced by the supportive or hindering factors in their surroundings but also actively contribute to shaping the context. Furthermore, a distinction can be observed within the practice between experienced and less experienced leaders, with the former assuming the organizational responsibility of developing the latter. This thesis, therefore, provides a new perspective on intentional self-development activities and encourages to start a new discussion regarding self-development.