The executive mind: Leader self-talk, effectiveness and strain

Purpose: The theoretical and practical criticality of self-talk for leader success receives extensive multidisciplinary discussion, without a great deal of empirical research given the challenge of assessing actual self-talk. The purpose of this paper is to advance research and theory on self-leadership by examining leader self-talk and its relationship to effectiveness and strain. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 189 senior executives' self-addressed, future-oriented letters were collected. The executives wrote these letters to themselves for their own personal development; thus, the language used represented a form of naturally occurring self-talk. Two types of self-talk were coded: constructive and dysfunctional. Supervisor and direct report ratings of leadership of others and creativity and self-ratings of job strain were collected. Findings: Extensive variability among leaders in constructive self-talk was found. Exemplars of constructive and dysfunctional self-talk are presented. Constructive self-talk positively related to effective leadership of others and creativity/originality as evaluated by subordinates and superiors and was negatively related to job strain. Dysfunctional self-talk related negatively to creativity/originality. Originality/value: In addition to illustrating the types of self-talk used by leaders, research is extended by providing some of the first empirical evidence of how leaders' free-flowing thoughts are related to their effectiveness and their overall well-being, lending direct support to a principal proposition from the self-leadership framework. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.