Margaret J. Wheatley Quotes

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Aggression Birth Business Change Community Creativity Culture

There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Community, Care, Discovering

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Turning to One Another (Large Print 16pt)”, p.64, ReadHowYouWant.com

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Very great change starts from very small conversations, held among people who care.

Margaret J. Wheatley

People, Who Cares, Conversation

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Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone

Margaret J. Wheatley

Inspirational, Relationship, Community

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Turning to One Another (Large Print 16pt)”, p.23, ReadHowYouWant.com

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Despite current ads and slogans, the world doesn't change one person at a time. It changes when networks of relationships form among people who share a common cause and vision of what's possible. This is good news for those of us intent on creating a positive future. Rather than worry about critical mass, our work is to foster critical connections. We don't need to convince large numbers of people to change; instead, we need to connect with kindred spirits. Through these relationships, we will develop the new knowledge, practices, courage and commitment that lead to broad-based change.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Change, Commitment, Creating

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In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Leadership, Motivation, Real

"100 Ways to Motivate Yourself". Book by Steve Chandler, 2004.

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When we seek for connection, we restore the world to wholeness. Our seemingly separate lives become meaningful as we discover how truly necessary we are to each other.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Inspirational, Life, Meaningful

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Ask what's possible, not what's wrong. Keep asking.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Asking, Asks

Margaret J. Wheatley (2002). “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future”, p.145, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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Nothing has given me more hope recently than to observe how simple conversations give birth to actions that can change lives and restore our faith in the future. There is no more powerful way to initiate significant social change than to start a conversation. When a group of people discover that they share a common concern, that's when the process of change begins.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Powerful, Life Changing, Simple

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we can't be creative if we refuse to be confused. Change always starts with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for what's new. Great ideas and inventions miraculously appear in the space of not knowing.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Change, Confused, Ideas

Margaret J. Wheatley (2002). “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future”, p.37, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Reflection, Creating, Way

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (Large Print 16pt)”, p.262, ReadHowYouWant.com

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[A]ll change, even very large and powerful change, begins when a few people start talking with one another about something they care about.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Powerful, Communication, Healing

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Turning to One Another (Large Print 16pt)”, p.13, ReadHowYouWant.com

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One of the easiest human acts is also the most healing. Listening to someone. Simply listening. Not advising or coaching, but silently and fully listening.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Inspirational, Healing, Coaching

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Turning to One Another (Large Print 16pt)”, p.92, ReadHowYouWant.com

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I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences

Margaret J. Wheatley

Leadership, Thinking, People

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It is time to stop waiting for someone to save us. It is time to face the truth of our situation - that we're all in this together, that we all have a voice - and figure out how to mobilize the hearts and minds of everyone in our workplaces and communities.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Heart, Voice, Community

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It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Leadership, Motivation, Differences

Margaret J. Wheatley (2002). “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future”, p.36, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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To make a system stronger, we need to make stronger relationships.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Stronger, Needs

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We can no longer stand at the end of something we visualized in detail and plan backwards from that future. Instead we must stand at the beginning, clear in our mind, with a willingness to be involved in discovery... it asks that we participate rather than plan.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Discovery, Mind, Vision

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A leader is one who... Has more faith in people than they do, and . . . who holds opportunities open long enough for their competence to re-emerge.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Opportunity, Long, People

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Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Leadership, Hero, Roles

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we don't have to agree with each other in order to think well together. There is no need for us to be joined at the head. We are joined by our human hearts.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Heart, Thinking, Order

Margaret J. Wheatley (2002). “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future”, p.37, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Fall, Dark, Night

Margaret J. Wheatley (2006). “Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World”, p.176, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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A leader these days needs to be a host - one who convenes diversity; who convenes all viewpoints in creative processes where our mutual intelligence can come forth.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Learning, Knowledge, Diversity

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One of the great errors organizations make is shutting down what is a natural, life-enhancing process-chaos. We are terrified of chaos. As a manager, it signals failure. But if you move out of control and into an appreciation of natural order, you understand that the only way a system changes is when it is far from equilibrium, when it moves from the 'quiet' we treasure and is confronted with the choice to die or reorganize. And you can't reorganize to a higher level unless you risk the perils of the path through chaos.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Appreciation, Moving, Organization

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You can’t hate someone whose story you know.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Hate, Stories, Knows

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Turning to One Another (Large Print 16pt)”, p.96, ReadHowYouWant.com

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Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context.

Margaret J. Wheatley

Courage, Determination, Risk

Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (Large Print 16pt)”, p.273, ReadHowYouWant.com

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Born: August 17, 1944
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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