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Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.

Margaret J. Wheatley

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Margaret J. Wheatley
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: January 1
Business Theorist
Writer
Control
People
Associate
Associates
Command
Leadership
Military

More quotes by Margaret J. Wheatley

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we can't be creative if we refuse to be confused. Change always starts with confusion cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for what's new. Great ideas and inventions miraculously appear in the space of not knowing.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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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
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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
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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
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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.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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Without aggression, it becomes possible to think well, to be curious about differences, and to enjoy each other's company.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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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
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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
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Power in organizations is the capacity generated by relationships. It is an energy that comes into existence through relationships.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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Thinking is always dangerous to the status quo. [...] The moment you start thinking, you'll want to change something.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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Life doesn't move in straight lines, and neither does a good conversation.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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In this new world, you and I make it up as we go along, not because we lack expertise or planning skills, but because that is the nature of reality. Reality changes shape and meaning because of our activity. And it is constantly new. We are required to be there, as active participants. It can't happen without us and nobody can do it for us.
Margaret J. Wheatley
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Disorder can play a critical role in giving birth to new, higher forms of order.
Margaret J. Wheatley