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Abstract

Bodies and bodily performances – including physical stature, features, stance, gestures and voice – are central, yet ignored, elements in the accomplishment of leadership. In this article I offer some reasons for this neglect and attempt to redress it. My focus here is the bodily practices of two Australian leaders – the Victorian Chief Commissioner of Police, Christine Nixon and Chris Sarra, a school principal who was ‘Queenslander of the year’in 2004. In these two ‘profiles’I explore the way their bodies and body performances in leadership were important dimensions in bringing about radical change in moribund systems. Their ‘different’ body performances – a woman police commissioner and a high-profile Aboriginal principal – were also subject to regulation by the wider systems of which they are a part. This exploration reveals bodies as powerful sites in the construction of subversive leadership and new leadership knowledge.

Keywords

bodies embodied leadership performance physicality

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Body Possibilities in Leadership

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