Margaret J. Wheatley Quotes

It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

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

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“To name is to make visible.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

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

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Aggression is inherently destructive of relationships. People and ideologies are pitted against each other, believing that in order to survive, they must destroy the opposition.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

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

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— 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

“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

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“When we can lay down our fear and anger and choose responses other than aggression, we create the conditions for bringing out the best in us humans.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

Aggression only moves in one direction - it creates more aggression.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Aggression is the most common behavior used by many organizations, a nearly invisible medium that influences all decisions and actions.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Destroying is a necessary function in life. Everything has its season, and all things eventually lose their effectiveness and die.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.”

— 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

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

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

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Despite current ads and slogans, the world doesn't change one person at a time. It changes when networks of relationships form among people who share a common cause and vision of what's possible. This is good news for those of us intent on creating a positive future. Rather than worry about critical mass, our work is to foster critical connections. We don't need to convince large numbers of people to change; instead, we need to connect with kindred spirits. Through these relationships, we will develop the new knowledge, practices, courage and commitment that lead to broad-based change.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

A leader is one who ... Has more faith in people than they do, and ... who holds opportunities open long enough for their competence to re-emerge.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“A leader these days needs to be a host - one who convenes diversity; who convenes all viewpoints in creative processes where our mutual intelligence can come forth.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“You can't hate someone whose story you know.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

We would do well to ponder the realization that love is the most potent source of power.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

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

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Many of us have created lives that give very little support for experimentation. We believe that answers already exist out there, independent of us. What if we invested more time and attention to our own experimentation? We could focus our efforts on discovering solutions that work uniquely for us.”

— 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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“All social change begins with a conversation.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Self-production: the characteristic of living systems to continuously renew themselves and to regulate this process in such a way that the integrity of their structure is maintained. It is a natural process which supports the quest for structure, process renewal and integrity.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

Thinking is always dangerous to the status quo. [ ... ] The moment you start thinking, you'll want to change something.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

Perseverance is a choice. It's not a simple, one-time choice, it's a daily one. There's never a final decision.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“They have eliminated rigidity, both physical and psychological, in order to support more fluid processes whereby temporary teams are created to deal with specific and ever-changing needs. They have simplified roles into minimal categories; they have knocked down walls and created workplaces where people, ideas, and information circulate freely.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Aggression only breeds more aggression. It only creates more fear and anger.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

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.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“Ask what's possible, not what's wrong. Keep asking.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“To make a system stronger, we need to make stronger relationships.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“It is time to stop waiting for someone to save us. It is time to face the truth of our situation - that we're all in this together, that we all have a voice - and figure out how to mobilize the hearts and minds of everyone in our workplaces and communities.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“One of the easiest human acts is also the most healing. Listening to someone. Simply listening. Not advising or coaching, but silently and fully listening.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

A world based on machine images is a world filled with boundaries. In a machine, every piece knows its place.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

In fact, Western culture has spent decades drawing lines and boxes around interconnected phenomena. We've chunked the world into pieces rather than explored its webby nature.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

— Margaret J. Wheatley