Quotes from Peter M. Senge

Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) has brought me in touch with hundreds more such practitioners.

Lastly, vision is not a solution to a problem. If it is seen in that light, when the "problem" of low morale or unclear strategic direction goes away, the energy behind the vision will go away also. Building shared vision must be seen as a central element of the daily work of leaders.

love is the only emotion that expands intelligence

we must allow multiple visions to coexist, listening for the right course of action that transcends and unifies all our individual visions. As one highly successful CEO expressed it: "My job, fundamentally, is listening to what the organization is trying to say, and them making sure that it is forcefully articulated.

In a heated debate, the novice at working with mental models will have to make an effort to identify the assumptions he is making and why. Often the beginner's efforts in a discipline are characterized by time displacement: only after the debate, does one see one's assumptions clearly and distinguish them from the "data" and reasoning upon which they are based.

the future lay in cultivating the scientist in all of us. If science is an unfinished project, the next stage will be about reconnecting and integrating the rigor of scientific method with the richness of direct experience to produce a science that will serve to connect us to one another, ourselves, and the world.

It's just not possible any longer to figure it out from the top, and have everyone else following the orders of the "grand strategist." The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization.

True proactiveness comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems. It is a product of our way of thinking, not our emotional state.

The more willing you are for him to make a free choice, the freer he will feel. This can be especially difficult with subordinates, who are often conditioned to feel as though they must go along. But you can still help by creating the time and safety for them to develop their own sense of vision.

Why are you so unhappy? Because ninety-nine percent of what you think, And everything you do, Is for your self, And there isn't one.

Intuition eludes the grasp of linear thinking, with its exclusive emphasis on cause and effect that are close in time and space. The result is that most of our intuitions don't make sense—that is, they can't be explained in terms of linear logic. Very

Sometimes symptomatic solutions are needed—for example, in treating a person suffering from a disease created by smoking or drinking. But symptomatic solutions must always be acknowledged as such, and combined with strategies for rehabilitating the capacity for fundamental solution, if the shifting the burden dynamic is to be interrupted. If symptomatic solutions are employed as if they are fundamental solutions, the search for fundamental solutions stops and shifting the burden sets in.

When our actions have consequences beyond our learning horizon, it becomes impossible to learn from direct experience.

One of the deepest desires underlying shared vision is the desire to be connected, to a larger purpose and to one another. The spirit of connection is fragile. It is undermined whenever we lose our respect for one another and for each other's views. We then split into insiders and outsiders—those who are "true believers" in the vision and those who are not.

Learning organizations are possible because, deep down, we are all learners. No one has to teach an infant to learn. In fact, no one has to teach infants anything. They are intrinsically inquisitive, masterful learners who learn to walk, speak, and pretty much run their households all on their own.

We need to learn the disciplines that will help cultivate the wisdom of the group and larger social systems.

That's why I think that cultivation, 'becoming a real human being,' really is the primary leadership issue of our time, but on a scale never required before. It's a very old idea that may actually hold the key to a new age of 'global democracy.

By the time they are 30, a few are on the fast track and the rest 'put in their time' to do what matters to them on the weekend. They lose the commitment, the sense of mission, and the excitement with which they started their careers. We get damn little of their energy and almost none of their spirit.

Great teachers create space for learning and invite people into that space.

most of the problems faced by humankind concerns [concerned] our inability to grasp and manage the increasingly complex systems of our world.

leaders' work as teachers often starts with their recognition of an important capacity that is lacking in an organization.

Herein lies the core learning dilemma that confronts organizations: we learn best from experience but we never directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions.

It cannot be stressed too much that team learning is a team skill. A group of talented individual learners will not necessarily produce a learning team, any more than a group of talented athletes will produce a great sports team. Learning teams learn how to learn together. If

The snowball effect of reinforcing advocacy can be stopped, by beginning to ask a few questions. Simple questions such as, "What is it that leads you to that position?" and "Can you illustrate your point for me?" (Can you provide some "data" or experience in support of it?) can introject an element of inquiry into a discussion.