Quote

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

Margaret J. Wheatley

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Margaret J. Wheatley
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: January 1
Business Theorist
Writer
Consequence
Failing
Creating
Unintended
Achieve
Blindly
Anything
Reflecting
Without
Consequences
Way
Useful
Reflection

More quotes by Margaret J. Wheatley

Image
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
Image
The future cannot be determined. It can only be experienced as it occurring. Life doesn't know what it will be until it notices what it has become.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
Life doesn't move in straight lines, and neither does a good conversation.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
Power is the capacity to generate relationships.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
Without aggression, it becomes possible to think well, to be curious about differences, and to enjoy each other's company.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
Let's just keep asking ourselves this question: 'Is what I'm about to do strengthening the web of connections, or is it weakening it?'
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
Passion mutates into procedures, into rules and roles. Instead of purpose, we focus on policies. Instead of being free to create, we impose constraints that squeeze the life out of us.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances - are the primary sources of creativity.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
In our daily life, we encounter people we are angry, deceitful, intent only on satisfying ere is so their own needs. There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together.
Margaret J. Wheatley
Image
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
Image
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