Through an inductive study of Learning and Development (L&D) executives in 69 multinational organizations, we build a theory of marginal leaders’ conception of learning in organizations. As marginal leaders, L&D executives lacked an established template for their leader identity and had to navigate conflicting prescriptions for their function. The conception of learning—a process that involved finding a place in relation to significant counterparts, taking a stance on learning, and building learning spaces—allowed them to craft identities that gave meaning and direction to their work, grounding their identity as leaders. Not all marginal leaders took the same trajectory towards firm ground for their identities. Some left the margins to lead, embracing either an instrumental or a humanistic view of their function. Others learned to lead from the margins, casting that duality as a paradox. Taking a systems psychodynamic approach to examine marginal leaders’ trajectories through a defining duality, this study reveals the interplay between existential and strategic layers of leader identity construction. Theorizing the conception of learning as the process through which leadership comes to life and gets organized, the study expands and bridges the literatures on leader identity and on the management of dualities.

中文翻译：

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陌生人领导：组织中边际领导的学习观的理论。

通过对 69 家跨国组织的学习与发展 (L&D) 高管的归纳研究，我们构建了边缘领导者组织学习概念的理论。作为边缘领导者，L&D 高管缺乏一个既定的领导者身份模板，不得不为他们的职能制定相互矛盾的处方。学习的概念——一个涉及找到与重要同行相关的位置、对学习采取立场和建立学习空间的过程——使他们能够塑造赋予工作意义和方向的身份，为他们作为领导者的身份奠定基础。并非所有边缘领导者都采取相同的轨迹，为他们的身份奠定坚实的基础。有些人留下了领先优势，对其功能抱有工具性或人文主义的观点。其他人则学会了从边缘领导，将这种二元性视为悖论。本研究采用系统心理动力学方法通过定义的二元性来检查边缘领导者的轨迹，揭示了领导者身份构建的存在层和战略层之间的相互作用。将学习的概念理论化为领导力得以实现和组织的过程，该研究扩展并架起了关于领导者身份和二元性管理的文献。