Sensemaking and sensegiving stories of jazz leadership

Abstract

Drawing on contemporary interviews and archival data, we explore how stories can be used as templates to guide jazz musicians’ sensemaking about the leadership of teams, what it means to be a jazz musician and what jazz is (or is not). By going beyond the metaphorical notion of jazz as improvisation, we contribute to theories of leadership by showing how informal storytelling can act as a powerful sensemaking and sensegiving mechanism for leadership and organizing. We also explore the contested nature of stories drawing on the notion of ‘antenarrative’. Our analysis contributes to the body of work on leader sensegiving and storytelling by examining the conditions under which a story’s sensegiving power may be restricted. Our research suggests that the sensegiving power of an ante-narrative and associated stories depends on whether or not they attempt to counter a dominant discourse.