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
The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances,_x000D_ _x000D_ imbalances - are the primary sources of creativity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Fear of change often hinders progress, yet it is through these disturbances that creativity emerges.
Margaret J. Wheatley's quote emphasizes that the uncertainties and fluctuations we tend to fear within organizations are not just threats but are actually vital sources of creativity. Embracing these disturbances can lead to new ideas and innovative solutions, underscoring the importance of navigating and adapting to change rather than resisting it.
Themes
CreativityFearOrganizationsChangeDisturbance
In practice
Example use cases
In a corporate meeting to discuss innovation strategies.
More from Margaret J. Wheatley
All quotes →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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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