Distributed leadership is a concept that is finding increasing support and is receiving widespread interest in the practitioner and research communities. So, why the interest in distributed leadership? While reasons for the contemporary interest certainly vary, it is suggested that reasons for the popularity of "distributed leadership" are three-fold. First, the notion of distributed leadership has a "descriptive power": it captures the forms of practice implicit in professional learning communities and communities of practice. A second reason for the interest in distributed leadership resides in its "representational" power, in the fact that the organisational structure and basis of schooling is changing. A third reason for the interest in distributed leadership lies in its "normative" power; it reflects current leadership practice in schools. In a practical sense, distributed leadership is concerned with engaging many people in leadership activity. In this article, the author reflects on the real concept of distributed leadership. She discusses that distributed leadership is not a shorthand way of talking about shared leadership. Rather this kind of leadership moves educators away from seeing leadership in compartmentalised and focused terms.