"Leadership happens from within, but that’s not the whole story"

Over the past few emails, we’ve explored Stacey’s view of leadership as something that happens in the moment, through participation, not prediction.

We’ve touched on:

• Why polished communication isn’t enough.
• Why open-door policies fall short.
• Why the messiness of conversation isn’t a flaw, it’s the work.
• And how politics isn’t something to avoid, but the space where leadership is practiced.

And just as a reminder, the thread running through it all is this:

That’s not always comfortable.
It means being seen.
Being misunderstood.
Changing your mind.
Owning your part.
Staying in the room when things get awkward.

But it’s also what makes leadership human, and possible.

But here’s the bigger idea in Stacey's work that I’ve barely scratched the surface of:

Not hard to predict.
Not difficult to control.
​Unknowable.

The future isn’t something we can fully design or guarantee.
It unfolds, moment by moment, through human interaction.
That should change everything about how we manage.
And it’s enough to frighten the life out of project managers everywhere!

But that’s a conversation for another day.

Until next time,
Dermot
​The Messy Middle

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