Leadership as Practice, Part Two: Leading Through Our Life-World

In Part One, we explored Leadership as Practice (LAP) and how leadership emerges

not from traits or titles but from the moments of collective engagement between people.

Today, we extend that conversation by drawing on the work of Sandberg and Dall’Alba,

who connect practice-based leadership to what they call a life-world perspective.

From this perspective, leadership isn’t just something we do—it’s deeply tied to how we

are in the world. The way we perform organizational practices is shaped by our

“entwinement of life with world.” This means we’re not isolated actors making decisions

in a vacuum. We’re beings whose actions and ways of leading are interwoven with the

people, tools, and environments around us.

We’re not just bodies moving through an office or virtual space; our bodies, minds, and

presence reach out, interact, and incorporate the world into how we lead. In this view,

leadership is not simply skill execution—it’s the embodiment of meaning, formed

through our relationships, shared practices, and lived experiences.

Sandberg and Dall’Alba remind us that we “become human beings by taking over ways

of being from other humans.” We learn how to lead—and how to live—through others’

examples, habits, and shared actions. This echoes a truth we see in organizations

every day: leadership cultures are not built in manuals or policies; they’re absorbed

through daily practice.

Heidegger takes this further, rejecting the idea of disconnection found in scientific

rationality. Instead, he insists that we are ever connected—always entwined with the

world. This entwinement is what allows us to make meaning of ourselves as leaders.

In the corporate world, this means that leaders and their organizational systems shape

one another through ongoing social practices.

What This Means for Corporate Leaders

• Leadership is embodied – How you show up physically, emotionally, and

relationally matters. Leadership is lived, not just spoken.

• Culture is contagious – Ways of working and leading are passed along through

shared practice. Your daily actions are shaping future leaders more than your

formal speeches.

• Systems and people co-create leadership – You can’t change leadership

behavior without addressing the structures that enable or restrict it. Similarly,

systems evolve through the people practicing within them.

• Meaning is made together – Leadership moments are opportunities to co-

create understanding, not just to direct tasks.

• The world is part of leadership – Environments, tools, and even organizational

rituals are active players in how leadership unfolds.

When corporate leaders embrace this life-world perspective, they stop treating

leadership as a solo skillset and start seeing it as an ongoing, shared way of being. This

awareness transforms not only how they lead but how their organizations learn, adapt,

and grow.