CONCLUSION
So, in the end, it’s not about the leaders. Those of us working together on projects and enterprises of import are not reliant on the directions of a single person in authority to launch us into action. We are — if committed to our mutual endeavor — already in motion. Our leadership occurs collectively amongst us in the moment and over time as we engage in unfolding activities that change how we approach our ongoing challenges. We conclude that to find leadership, then, we must look to the practice within which it is occurring. Participants to leadership through their practices decide on what they hope to accomplish and organize the tasks that need to be performed to achieve their mission. In this leadership, we may find people talking together, acting together, thinking together, fighting together, playing together, all toward creating their own useful and sustainable outcomes. The practice approach to leadership as exemplified in this article offers many advantages to practitioners. Most potentially useful is the opportunity to spread leadership to those activities and participants where it is most needed. People don’t curtail their contributions until receiving their marching orders from the top. They act out of their own craftsmanship when and where needed. In exhibiting a necessary level of autonomy, they become collectively engaged, not because of the benefits extrinsic to the work, but because of the sheer enjoyment of accomplishment.
