Successful organizations, including the Military, have learned that the higher the risk, the more necessary it is to engage everyone's commitment and intelligence. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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 instructions. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
For eons, humans have struggled to find less destructive ways of living together. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
These days, our senses are bombarded with aggression. We are constantly confronted with global images of unending, escalating war and violence. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
Too many problem-solving sessions become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence. (Margaret J. Wheatley)
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