Purpose – to compare the introduction of, and associated contemporary research into, two management fashions. Design/methodology/approach – names the two fashions as “personal growth” and “sensitivity training”, states that sensitivity training was popular in the 1960s-1970s, and that personal growth, incorporating aspects of sensitivity training, was widely used in 1990s-2000s, focuses on the relationship between management fashions and management research fashions, suggests that fashions follow wave patterns, and discusses the role of consultants in the development, diffusion and translation of a fashion. Draws on the author’s own doctoral thesis to illustrate how individuals can be influenced by a fashion, identifies similarities between sensitivity training and personal development, sees the former as a first-wave fashion and the latter as a second-wave, and profiles the techniques, methods and goals of the two fashions, pinpointing self-knowledge, and the belief that in order to understand others one must understand one’s self, as key concepts in both fashions. Analyses two doctoral theses, the first published in 1979 studying sensitivity training, the second published by the author in 2005 studying personal development, reports the author’s interviews with the first paper’s author, likens managers’ identity work in managing to researchers’ identity work in a dissertation, and concludes that both managers and researchers surf on the same or parallel, fashion waves. Originality/value – highlights the cyclic pattern of fashions, and shows how both researchers and practitioners are subject to fashions