IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v79y2017icp31-40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The circle of life: Rhetoric of identification in Steve Jobs' Stanford speech

Author

Listed:
  • Heracleous, Loizos
  • Klaering, Laura Alexa

Abstract

We sought to understand from a rhetorical perspective the sources of the runaway popularity of Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech. Our analysis shows the rhetorical sophistication of this speech in terms of mutually reinforcing use of established dynamics, canons, and devices of rhetoric. We find however that these aspects of classical rhetoric are imbued with and reinforced by Burkeian identification processes that permeate the speech. We contend that an important aspect of leaders' rhetorical competence, and an enabler for constructing evocative, impactful rhetoric is the skillful employment of processes of identification.

Suggested Citation

  • Heracleous, Loizos & Klaering, Laura Alexa, 2017. "The circle of life: Rhetoric of identification in Steve Jobs' Stanford speech," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 31-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:79:y:2017:i:c:p:31-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.05.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317301571
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.05.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joan Marques, 2013. "Understanding the Strength of Gentleness: Soft-Skilled Leadership on the Rise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 163-171, August.
    2. John A.A. Sillince, 1999. "The Organizational Setting, Use and Institutionalization of Argumentation Repertoires," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 795-830, November.
    3. Henry Mintzberg, 1971. "Managerial Work: Analysis from Observation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 97-110, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Horstkotte, Julian, 2013. "Performance effects of international expansion processes: The moderating role of top management team experiences," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 259-277.
    2. Janet R. DeSimone & Laura A. Roberts, 2023. "Nonprofit leadership dispositions," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Stefano Dughera, 2022. "The evolution of workplace control leadership, obedience and organizational performance," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 399-421, April.
    4. Griesbach, David & Grand, Simon, 2013. "Managing as transcending: An ethnography," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 63-77.
    5. Konstantinos Giannakas & Murray Fulton & Tala Awada, 2017. "Hiring leaders: Inference and disagreement about the best person for the job," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Horstkotte, Julian, 2013. "Managerial services and complexity in a firm’s expansion process: An empirical study of the impact on the growth of the firm," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 137-151.
    7. Iván A. Montoya Restrepo, 2009. "La formación de la estrategia en Mintzberg y las posibilidades de su aportación para el futuro," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, December.
    8. Fernández Fernández, José Luis & Camacho Ibáñez, Javier & Díaz de la Cruz, Cristina & Gil, Bernardo Villazán, 2021. "How can ‘orare et laborare’ guide the person-technology relationship during the Fourth Industrial Revolution?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Klus, Milan F. & Müller, Julia, 2018. "Identifying leadership skills required in the digital age," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 11/2018, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    10. Suzanne Bijkerk & Josse (J.) Delfgaauw & Vladimir (V.A.) Karamychev & Otto (O.H.) Swank, 2018. "Need to Know? On Information Systems in Firms," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-091/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    11. Yang, Inju & Li, Lily Ming, 2018. "‘It is not fair that you do not know we have problems’: Perceptual distance and the consequences of male leaders' conflict avoidance behaviours," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 105-116.
    12. Fridah Muriungi Mwobobia, 2012. "Role of Business Management into the Success and Survival of Small Businesses: The Case of Star Learning Centre in Botswana," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(1), pages 93-112, January.
    13. Smulowitz, Stephen J. & Almandoz, Juan (“John”), 2021. "Reprint of “Predicting employee wrongdoing: The complementary effect of CEO option pay and the pay gap”," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 104-116.
    14. Cook, Michael L., 1994. "The Role of Management Behavior in Agricultural Cooperatives," Journal of Agricultural Cooperation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, vol. 9, pages 1-17.
    15. Schmid, Stefan & Altfeld, Frederic, 2018. "International work experience and compensation: Is more always better for CFOs?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 530-543.
    16. Abetti, Pier A. & Phan, Phillip H., 2004. "Teaching note: Zobele chemical industries: the evolution of a family company from flypaper to globalization (1919-2001)," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 601-613, July.
    17. Swiatkiewicz Olgierd & Perło Dariusz & Perło Dorota, 2015. "What Kinds of Skills are Expected by Portuguese and Polish Employers?," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 5-21, January.
    18. Matthias P. Hühn & Sara Mandray, 2024. "Is Rationality Reasonable? How Ancient Logos Changes Management Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 465-479, May.
    19. David H. Greenberg & Marvin B. Mandell, 1991. "Research utilization in policymaking: A tale of two series (of social experiments)," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 633-656.
    20. Wan Jiang & Qinxuan Gu & Thomas Li-Ping Tang, 2019. "Do Victims of Supervisor Bullying Suffer from Poor Creativity? Social Cognitive and Social Comparison Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 865-884, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:79:y:2017:i:c:p:31-40. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.