Margaret J. Wheatley
No longer in a relational universe, can we study anything as separate from ourselves. Our acts of observation are part of the process that brings forth the manifestation of what we are observing.Collection: Study
When error holds so much power, play disappears. Creativity ceases.Collection: Creativity
The search for the lessons of the new science is still in progress, really in its infancy. In this realm, three is a new kind of freedom, where it is more rewarding to explore than to reach conclusions, more satisfying to wonder than to know, and more exciting to search than to stay put. Curiosity, not certainty, becomes the saving grace.Collection: Learning
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.Collection: Realization
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.Collection: Business
Organizations 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.Collection: Change
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.Collection: Mean
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.Collection: Relationship
Who you are depends on who you meet.Collection: Self
You can’t hate someone whose story you know.Collection: Hate
Life now insists that we encounter groundlessness. Systems and ideas that seemed reliable and solid dissolve at an increasing rate. People who asked for our trust betray or abandon us. Strategies that worked suddenly don't. Groundlessness is a frightening place, at least at first, but as the old culture turns to mush, we would feel stronger if we stopped searching for ground, if we sought only to locate ourselves in the present and do our work from here.Collection: Ideas
One of the great errors organizations make is shutting down what is a natural, life-enhancing process-chaos. We are terrified of chaos. As a manager, it signals failure. But if you move out of control and into an appreciation of natural order, you understand that the only way a system changes is when it is far from equilibrium, when it moves from the 'quiet' we treasure and is confronted with the choice to die or reorganize. And you can't reorganize to a higher level unless you risk the perils of the path through chaos.Collection: Appreciation
Let's just keep asking ourselves this question: 'Is what I'm about to do strengthening the web of connections, or is it weakening it?'Collection: Connections
All of us need better skills in listening, conversing, respecting one another's uniqueness, because these are essential for strong relationships.Collection: Strong
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.Collection: Perspective
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.Collection: Moving
In this new world, you and I make it up as we go along, not because we lack expertise or planning skills, but because that is the nature of reality. Reality changes shape and meaning because of our activity. And it is constantly new. We are required to be there, as active participants. It can't happen without us and nobody can do it for us.Collection: Learning
We each create our world by what we choose to notice, creating a world of distinction that makes sense to us. We then 'see' the world through the self we have created.Collection: Our World
Disorder can play a critical role in giving birth to new, higher forms of order.Collection: Order
We need to move from the leader as hero, to the leader as host.Collection: Moving
As we let go of the machine model of work, we begin to step back and see ourselves in new ways, to appreciate wholeness, and to design organizations that honor and make use of the totality of who we are.Collection: Letting Go
We would do well to ponder the realization that love is the most potent source of power.Collection: Power
We are, always, poets, exploring possibilities of meaning in a world which is also all the time exploring possibilities.Collection: World
Power in organizations is the capacity generated by relationships. It is an energy that comes into existence through relationships.Collection: Organization
Independence is a political concept, not a biological concept.Collection: Political
Perseverance is a choice. It's not a simple, one-time choice, it's a daily one. There's never a final decision.Collection: Perseverance
Thinking is the place where intelligent actions begin. We pause long enough to look more carefully at a situation, to see more of its character, to think about why it's happening, to notice how it's affecting us and othersCollection: Character
Aggression only moves in one direction - it creates more aggression.Collection: Moving
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.Collection: Different
We could focus our efforts on discovering solutions that work uniquely for us.Collection: Focus
When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed.Collection: Leadership
These days, our senses are bombarded with aggression. We are constantly confronted with global images of unending, escalating war and violence.Collection: War
Aggression is the most common behavior used by many organizations, a nearly invisible medium that influences all decisions and actions.Collection: Reality
I've wanted to see beyond the Western, mechanical view of the world and see what else might appear when the lens was changedCollection: Views
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 situationCollection: Leadership
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.Collection: Business
Space is the basic ingredient of the universe; there is more of it than anything else.Collection: Space
Destroying is a necessary function in life. Everything has its season, and all things eventually lose their effectiveness and die.Collection: Death
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way.Collection: Reflection
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 instructionsCollection: Responsibility
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!Collection: Real
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.Collection: Teaching
Without aggression, it becomes possible to think well, to be curious about differences, and to enjoy each other's company.Collection: Thinking
A world based on machine images is a world filled with boundaries. In a machine, every piece knows its place.Collection: Machines
Life is creative. It makes it up as it goes along.Collection: Creative
Listening is a reciprocal process - we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.Collection: Listening
For us, someone who is willing to step forward and help is much more courageous than someone who is merely fulfilling the role.Collection: Roles
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.Collection: Believe