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. WheatleyRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the detrimental effects of leaders prioritizing their own power over the productivity of their teams.
Margaret J. Wheatley emphasizes that when leaders focus on maintaining control rather than fostering a productive work environment, they undermine both the motivation and capacity of their employees. This choice often leads to a toxic organizational culture where the effectiveness of the team is compromised for the sake of individual authority, resulting in a decline in overall productivity and morale.
Themes
LeadershipProductivityPowerMotivationOrganization
In practice
Example use cases
In a leadership seminar discussing effective management practices.
More from Margaret J. Wheatley
All quotes βIn 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.
Margaret J. WheatleyRead
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. WheatleyRead
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. WheatleyRead
It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.
Margaret J. WheatleyRead
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. WheatleyRead
Similar quotes
You stand up for your teammates. Your loyalty is to them. You protect them through good and bad, because they'd do the same for you.
Yogi BerraRead
I can't tell you how many resumes we get from business schools across the country from black women and black men and Hispanic women, men, etcetera, who say I'm interested in working for your company because they can see someone at the top who looks like them.
Mellody HobsonRead
I put my name out there and ran for public service because I want more inclusion, diversity, and opportunity... I will fight for those values.
Michelle WuRead
You've got to coach worrying about your entire team: whether that gets you a championship or whether that gets you fired. I think it allows you to coach free. You're coaching with freedom because you know you're doing what you think is right.
Doc RiversRead
Leadership is happening, but it's not coming from the leaders of the old institutions. Everywhere you look, you see these extraordinary, sparkling new initiatives that are under way.
Don TapscottRead
When they remain in garrison, soldiers are maintained with fear and punishment; when they are then led to war, with hope and reward.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead