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
[A]ll change, even very large and powerful change, begins when a few people start talking with one another about something they care about.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Significant change starts with small discussions among passionate individuals.
Margaret J. Wheatley emphasizes that even the most substantial changes in society or organizations begin on a small scale, highlighting the importance of conversations among individuals who share a common concern or interest. This quote underscores the power of dialogue and connection in initiating transformation, suggesting that when a few people come together to discuss what matters to them, they can ignite broader movements and inspire more significant shifts in perspective and action.
Themes
ChangeCommunicationTransformationCommunityConversation
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting, I shared this quote to encourage my colleagues to speak up about the changes they want to see in our work environment.
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
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. 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
Similar quotes
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
Peter DruckerRead
Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are so dear to you - you do not even suspect that the day has already dawned outside.
Aleksandr SolzhenitsynRead
I have news for the forces of greed and the defenders of the status quo: your time has come - and gone. It's time for change in America.
William J. ClintonRead
Historical fact: People stopped being people in 1913. That was the year Henry Ford put his cars on rollers and made his workers adopt the speed of the assembly line. At first, workers rebelled. They quit in droves, unable to accustom their bodies to the new pace of the age. Since then, however, the adaptation has been passed down: we've all inherited it to some degree, so that we plug right into joy-sticks and remotes, to repetitive motions of a hundred kinds.
Jeffrey EugenidesRead
Just try walking very slowly, and you will be surprised - a new quality of awareness starts happening in the body. Eat slowly, and you will be surprised - there is great relaxation. Do everything slowly... just to change the old pattern, just to come out of old habits.
RajneeshRead
Don't change the world, change worlds.
Francis Of AssisiRead