Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising.
David WhyteRead
One of the great difficulties as you rise up through an organisation is that your prior competencies are exploded and broken apart by the territory you've been promoted into: the field of human identity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
As you advance in an organization, your previous skills may become irrelevant due to new challenges involving human relationships and identity.
David Whyte highlights a common challenge leaders face when they ascend within an organization: the skills and competencies that helped them succeed in their previous roles may not necessarily apply in their new positions. The transition to higher levels of leadership often requires a deeper understanding of human dynamics and identity, which can be significantly different from technical or operational expertise.
Themes
LeadershipCompetenceHuman IdentityOrganizationGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a leadership seminar focused on career advancement.
More from David Whyte
All quotes →Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future.
David WhyteRead
By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry is just below the radar.
David WhyteRead
The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears
David WhyteRead
The severest test of work today, is not of our strategies, but of our imaginations and identities.
David WhyteRead
We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming, as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due.
David WhyteRead
Similar quotes
In government institutions and in teaching, you need to inspire confidence. To achieve credibility, you have to very clearly explain what you are doing and why. The same principles apply to businesses.
Janet YellenRead
A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing.
Mike KrzyzewskiRead
There is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform.
XenophonRead
If I can't get the captains to respond appropriately and show the leadership I expect, how is anyone else going to respond?
Tony DungyRead
On a film set, there are runners who are 19, it's their first job, but to me they're as important as anybody else because if they don't do their job then nobody else can. So I don't think anybody should be treated disrespectfully or as if they're of a lower status.
Jim CarterRead
I used to feel that I had to be dictatorial in order to be respected, but after I did a couple of TV movies, I began to see that authority came with the job. So I began to relax and let more people into the process, and my work really improved.
Ron HowardRead