Going to work as me – identity work in consulting

Abstract

The article unfolds the emotional identity work of consultants, which is performed by success and failure stories. The failure stories are often private and emotional hard and fragmented stories about “not performing” the work with joy and satisfaction. In contrast, the success stories are coherent stories about doing a difference and creating values for others. The article argues that for both success and failure stories creating meaning is crucial to consultants understanding of work and their relation to definition of self and work. But the stories are often performed back stage, and therefore never gets the managerial support and attention they deserve – a leadership attention that could add to a better understanding of the employee’s emotional life and working life.