Margaret J. Wheatley
Margaret J. Wheatley
Margaret J. Wheatleyis an American writer and management consultant who studies organizational behavior. Her approach includes systems thinking, theories of change, chaos theory, leadership and the learning organization: particularly its capacity to self-organize. Her work is often compared to that of Donella Meadows and Dee Hock. She describes her work as opposing "highly controlled mechanistic systems that only create robotic behaviors."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
CountryUnited States of America
thinking want moments
Thinking is always dangerous to the status quo. [...] The moment you start thinking, you'll want to change something.
business thinking use
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.
thinking people decision
For example, I was discussing the use of email and how impersonal it can be, how people will now email someone across the room rather than go and talk to them. But I don't think this is laziness, I think it is a conscious decision people are making to save time.
character intelligent thinking
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 others
thinking people needs
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
memories moving thinking
Our growing addiction to the Internet is impairing precious human capacities such as memory, concentration, pattern recognition, meaning-making, and intimacy. We are becoming more restless, more impatient, more demanding, and more insatiable, even as we become more connected and creative. We are rapidly losing the ability to think long about any- thing, even those issues we care about. We flit, moving restlessly from one link to another.
thinking differences curious
Without aggression, it becomes possible to think well, to be curious about differences, and to enjoy each other's company.
heart thinking order
we don't have to agree with each other in order to think well together. There is no need for us to be joined at the head. We are joined by our human hearts.
thinking people together
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
anywhere appear believe leadership needs
I believe that the capacity that any organisation needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.
confronted external sources type
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.
air destroying employ harm holding life massive onto people programs span
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.
cause created effect gone push reason solved soon
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.
command crises intelligence means solving uncertain
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.