Abstract
This developmental paper conceptualizes leadership development as a dynamic process of identity work rather than a linear, competency-based intervention. While traditional approaches frame leadership development as a rational, performance-oriented effort to build measurable skills and close competency gaps, this perspective overlooks the ambiguity, relational negotiation, and power dynamics embedded in becoming a leader. Drawing on a processual view of identity, the paper conceptualizes leadership identity development as unfolding through cycles of exploration, disruption, and renegotiation. It integrates three dimensions: (1) power and discipline, highlighting how development programs shape leader subjectivities through normalization and self-surveillance; (2) agency, emphasizing individuals’ intentional and reflective engagement with leadership norms; and (3) ethics, foregrounding “care of the self” and moral self-formation. The paper develops a conceptual framework to guide a forthcoming micro-longitudinal qualitative study of leadership identity work within an MBA program.