Margaret J. Wheatley

“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.”

“Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.”

“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.”

“I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“In our daily life, we encounter people who are angry, deceitful, intent only on satisfying their own needs. There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together.”

“We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order.”

“Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.”