CEO and the art of motorcycle maintenance: a pilot research on the value range of Hungarian top managers

Abstract

This study is introducing the results of a pilot research carried out in Hungary in 2009. The aim of the research was to examine how the executive coaches see the personal and the leading identity of top managers of the local large organisations. The research is part of a Ph.D. Thesis, the subject of which is the value range of Hungarian top managers and its effect on the society. 14 senior consultants dealing directly with top managers took part in the research, most of them having almost 10 or more years of experience. The research was carried out by the author in Budapest with the method of structured face to face interviews. It is clear from the received answers that according to the experience of those answering the questions most Hungarian top managers have significant difficulties when harmonizing personal and official value ranges. Only few of the top managers known by them are able to keep their internal psychic procedures under the same strong control as they use with their environment during working. The ideal and real self images of the leaders are often conspicuously contradictional, and there is gap between the personal and the leader’s identities which is hard to bridge. Those answering the questions consider that the leader’s identity is partly substantial and partly narrative but they also add: establishing myths concerning ourselves can easily become part of the leader’s role. Most of them consider that the talented manager is also efficient in consciously shaping their own identity at the same time.