Quotes from Margaret J. Wheatley

Yet we act as if simple cause and effect is at work. We push to find the one simple reason things have gone wrong. We look for the one action, or the one person, that created this mess. As soon as we find someone to blame, we act as if we've solved the problem.

Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.

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!

Thinking is always dangerous to the status quo. [...] The moment you start thinking, you'll want to change something.

Organisations are now confronted with two sources of change: the traditional type that is initiated and managed; and external changes over which no one has control.

In these troubled, uncertain times, we don't need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyone's intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.

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

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.

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.

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

We could focus our efforts on discovering solutions that work uniquely for us.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.

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.

Aggression only breeds more aggression. It only creates more fear and anger.

Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.

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

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

Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.