Quotes by Margaret J. Wheatley

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

We are, always, poets, exploring possibilities of meaning in a world which is also all the time exploring possibilities.

The future cannot be determined. I can only be experienced as it is occurring. Life doesnt know what it will be until it notices what it has become.

The things we fear most in organizations-fluctuations disturbances imbalances-are the primary sources of creativity.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.

In these troubled, uncertain times, we dont need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyones intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Im 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.

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.

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.