Thanks for this piece Karolina — I highlighted your last “caution” note, which spoke to me strongly.

Earlier, you write:

Much of my work is about breaking out of the binary. In the case of leading & following, my curiosity is around exploring conditions, that invite flow, where no-one is leading & no-one is following, but we are all part of a beautiful dance, serving the purpose of our work.

My observations in contexts seeking this “flow” in groups is that “no one leading” (or following) is actually a constant and flexible shifting and sharing of leadership and followership. Roles of ‘leader’ and ‘follower’ are always present, but they are not fixed in any particular people. This way, those roles can respond to individual and collective intelligence, without causing stagnation (absence of flow) that can arise when specific people are imagined or expected or desired or feared to be always in one or the other role.

Fear of ‘leadership’ (and claims of being ‘leaderless’) seem to arise when we only know oppressive or regressive forms of ‘leadership’ — when we have not experienced a flow of those roles among people, and of appropriate constraints on delegated leadership. Or perhaps we have experienced it briefly, but do not have the skills or methods to prolong, or even invite, that flow in groups.