Margaret J. Wheatley Quotes
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In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.
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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.
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Too many problem-solving sessions become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence.
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Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone
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Disorder can play a critical role in giving birth to new, higher forms of order.
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Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.
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Thinking is always dangerous to the status quo. [...] The moment you start thinking, you'll want to change something.
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There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
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Power is the capacity to generate relationships.
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A leader is one who... Has more faith in people than they do, and . . . who holds opportunities open long enough for their competence to re-emerge.
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I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers.
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Surrendering to life offers some wonderful realizations. We learn we're capable of being in this dance, of working with whatever happens. We learn to trust ourselves and then others and, gradually, we learn that life itself can be trusted.
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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.
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Listening is a reciprocal process - we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.
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Independence is a political concept, not a biological concept.
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It is time to stop waiting for someone to save us. It is time to face the truth of our situation - that we're all in this together, that we all have a voice - and figure out how to mobilize the hearts and minds of everyone in our workplaces and communities.
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And time for reflection with colleagues is for me a lifesaver; it is not just a nice thing to do if you have the time. It is the only way you can survive.
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Life is creative. It makes it up as it goes along.
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In this present culture, we need to find the means to work and live together with less aggression if we are to resolve the serious problems that afflict and impede us.
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Without reflection, we go blindly on our way.
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Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.
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I believe that the capacity that any organization needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.
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You can’t hate someone whose story you know.
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In fact, Western culture has spent decades drawing lines and boxes around interconnected phenomena. We've chunked the world into pieces rather than explored its webby nature.
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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.
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When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness. Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other.
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Passion mutates into procedures, into rules and roles. Instead of purpose, we focus on policies. Instead of being free to create, we impose constraints that squeeze the life out of us.
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There are many benefits to this process of listening. The first is that good listeners are created as people feel listened to. Listening is a reciprocal process - we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.
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A world based on machine images is a world filled with boundaries. In a machine, every piece knows its place.
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Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren't there before.
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