Leadership development with reality TV: identity work with the Kardashians

As a form of popular culture, film provides alternative female role models often missing from leadership development programs, while generating affect and offering aesthetic experiences, making it a valuable resource for identity work. This study draws on the global phenomenon of the Kardashian – Jenner family and uses their reality TV shows in a leadership development activity focused on shaping self-views as a potential leader. Participants engaged in a film-based learning approach, supported by personal journals and drawings, which were analyzed using qualitative methods. Findings show how participants initially formed affective connections to protagonists, then deconstructed and reconstructed their self-views. Outcomes included changed attitudes, new ways of doing things, and a transformed understanding of how leadership can be embodied. The study explores often-overlooked affective and material processes in identity work and demonstrates how representations of leadership in popular culture can be leveraged for more inclusive and self-directed leadership development.