Meg Wheatley Quotes
-
We know from science that nothing in the universe exists as an isolated or independent entity.
-
Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context.
-
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.
-
I believe that the capacity that any organisation needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.
-
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.
-
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.
-
These days, our senses are bombarded with aggression. We are constantly confronted with global images of unending, escalating war and violence.
-
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.
-
Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Destroying is a necessary function in life. Everything has its season, and all things eventually lose their effectiveness and die.
-
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.
-
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.
-
Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place.
-
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!
-
Successful organizations, including the Military, have learned that the higher the risk, the more necessary it is to engage everyone's commitment and intelligence.
-
Without aggression, it becomes possible to think well, to be curious about differences, and to enjoy each other's company.
-
Aggression only moves in one direction - it creates more aggression.
-
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.
-
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.