This study will analyze the relationship between myth and the fantasy rhetoric of charismatic leadership by employing Fantasy Theme Analysis to examine the pervasive discourses invoking this enduring folk belief. Fantasies of the Charismatic Superhero are explored within the popular leadership treatises of successful management gurus and in our popular culture entertainments. The rhetorical visions of Stephen Coveys Principle-Centered Leadership, Jim Collins Level 5 Leadership, and Manz and Sims' SuperLeadership are examined for their displacement of charismatic leadership in favor of the empowered crypto-charisma of self-leading memberships. Findings suggest empowerment rhetorics, like the rhetorical visions championed by many populist gurus, bear striking similarities to the fantasy script of charisma and tacitly champion mythic culturetypes that are variations on known routinizations of charismatic leadership: the Ubermensch Prophet, the Messianic Prince, the Servant Superhero, or Technocratic Superteams.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01272004-085638 |
| Date | 27 January 2004 |
| Creators | Treat, Shaun Robert |
| Contributors | Christine DiStefano, Joshua Gunn, Laura Sells, Andrew King, Michael Bowman |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01272004-085638/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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