The literature on CEO identity considers it as a given and as an independent variable that may affect performance, ethics, and other organizational facets. The same assumption is made in the literature on leadership styles, where the CEO’s personal characteristics influence their preferred style. In this perspective, a CEO’s identity is static, and organizations must carefully select the best candidate to enable different outcomes, including in terms of leadership style. However, research on identity has shown it is dynamic and changing. Using a case where a CEO is required to change his organization’s management philosophy and his leadership style, this study shows that CEO identity can indeed change, although it is at the price of some personal suffering. We will suggest, however, that such change can occur only if some fundamental values remain constant.
