Abstract
In recent years a growing number of chief executive autobiographies have appeared on the book market. A hermeneutic analysis of a sample of chief executive autobiographies sheds some light on the way top managers call upon collective memory in their own organizations and the public at large by linking emotion words to the life events described. The findings indicate that the autobiographies constitute a dramaturgical presentation of self that is embedded in the social sharing of emotional life events. Identified display rules show how the chief executives deal with the expectations evoked by their role. The study illustrates how semantic representations of basic emotions are employed, how critical life episodes are viewed arid how the chief executives relate to stakeholders. From this there emerges a picture of the way chief executives use emotion.