Margaret J. Wheatley Quotes

In these troubled, uncertain times, we don't need more command and control.. view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

For me, this is a familiar image - people in the organization ready and willing to do good work, wanting to contribute their ideas, ready to take responsibility, and leaders holding them back, insisting that they wait for decisions or instructions... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

For us, someone who is willing to step forward and help is much more courageous than someone who is merely fulfilling the role... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Aggression is inherently destructive of relationships. People and ideologies are pitted against each other, believing that in order to survive, they must destroy the opposition... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Aggression is the most common behavior used by many organizations, a nearly invisible medium that influences all decisions and actions... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Aggression only moves in one direction - it creates more aggression... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

And time for reflection with colleagues is for me a lifesaver.. view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Circles create soothing space, where even reticent people can realize that their voice is welcome... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Destroying is a necessary function in life. Everything has its season, and all things eventually lose their effectiveness and die... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Everyone in a complex system has a slightly different interpretation. The more interpretations we gather, the easier it becomes to gain a sense of the whole... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Hopelessness has surprised me with patience... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

For example, I was discussing the use of email and how impersonal it can be, how people will now email someone across the room rather than go and talk to them. But I don't think this is laziness, I think it is a conscious decision people are making to save time... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

In the past, it was easier to believe in my own effectiveness. If I worked hard, with good colleagues and good ideas, we could make a difference. But now, I sincerely doubt that... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I believe that the capacity that any organisation needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I think it is quite dangerous for an organisation to think they can predict where they are going to need leadership. It needs to be something that people are willing to assume if it feels relevant, given the context of any situation... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I think we have to notice that the business processes we use right now for thinking and planning and budgeting and strategy are all delivered on very tight agendas... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I'm sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

I've wanted to see beyond the Western, mechanical view of the world and see what else might appear when the lens was changed... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

In our daily life, we encounter people who are angry, deceitful, intent only on satisfying their own needs. There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

For eons, humans have struggled to find less destructive ways of living together... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

When we can lay down our fear and anger and choose responses other than aggression, we create the conditions for bringing out the best in us humans... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Successful organizations, including the Military, have learned that the higher the risk, the more necessary it is to engage everyone's commitment and intelligence... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

We know from science that nothing in the universe exists as an isolated or independent entity... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

We experience problem-solving sessions as war zones, we view competing ideas as enemies, and we use problems as weapons to blame and defeat opposition forces. No wonder we can't come up with real lasting solutions!.. view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Too many problem-solving sessions become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

These days, our senses are bombarded with aggression. We are constantly confronted with global images of unending, escalating war and violence... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

The nature of the global business environment guarantees that no matter how hard we work to create a stable and healthy organisation, our organisation will continue to experience dramatic changes far beyond our control... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

We do as much harm holding onto programs and people past their natural life span as we do when we employ massive organizational air strikes. However, destroying comes at the end of life's cycle, not as a first response... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Our willingness to acknowledge that we only see half the picture creates the conditions that make us more attractive to others. The more sincerely we acknowledge our need for their different insights and perspectives, the more they will be magnetized to join us... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Organisations are now confronted with two sources of change: the traditional type that is initiated and managed.. view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Most people associate command and control leadership with the military... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Listening moves us closer, it helps us become more whole, more healthy, more holy. Not listening creates fragmentation, and fragmentation is the root of all suffering... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley

Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen... view

By: Margaret J. Wheatley