Resumen de Headhunters and the �ideal� executive body
Susan Meriläinen, Janne Tienari, Anu Valtonen
In this article, we adopt a critical perspective to study how executive search practices reproduce particular understandings of the �ideal� executive body. We show how this disadvantages not only women but also men who are considered not to fit the �ideal�, and further demonstrate how search practices are embodied: how aesthetics, the senses and a sensorial way of knowing permeate the practices through which candidates are evaluated. We identify discourses on embodied co-presence, capabilities and voice in search consultants� talk, and specify how notions of the �ideal� executive body and embodied search practices become intertwined. We offer this contribution to the discussion on the body, gender and management and to research on executive search practice.
