Margaret J. Wheatley
Margaret J. Wheatley, President of the non-profit Berkana Institute, is a world-renown management consultant, who has been hired by organizations ranging from the US Army to the Girl Scouts to Fortune 100 companies to teach them how to successfully grow and sustain themselves. She began her career as a public school teacher, and went on to earn her PhD at Harvard in administration, planning and social policy. She has been on the faculty at both Brigham Young University and Cambridge College. In 1992, she published Leadership and the New Science, outlining a new approach to dealing with organizational chaos that evolved out of her study of quantum physics, evolutionary biology, organic chemistry and chaos theory. Her view that the organizations are dynamic, living systems that can be nurtured by meaning and connection mirrors her spiritual perspective.
The passages and questions below are offered as a starting point for discussion, and are simply listed in sequential order as they appear in the book.
- Page 176 [Wolff] In Leadership and the New Science, you describe a healthy organization as one that is able to adapt to the demands of the moment, is resilient and fluid, has order, partners with others, is open to various kinds of information - even information which may ultimately be disturbing - and also has stability that comes from an ever-deepening center. I'm intrigued by how similar your description of a healthy organization is to the description of the self-actualizing individual. [Wheatley] "Yes it is, but I prefer the phrase 'ever-deepening identity' rather than 'self-actualization' because I think it better explains what's occurring from a spiritual perspective. "
- This entire interview intrigued me because it seems like there has always been a rigid barrier between corporations and spirituality and yet Margaret Wheatley seems to have found a way to bridge that gap. In fact, she is hired by huge organizations to share her perspective on how to bridge that gap. I find this convergence to be exciting – what is your reaction? How do you think society would be different if more organizations recognized this convergence?
- Page 178 "One of the insights I've gained from studying quantum physics is that nothing exists as an independent entity, devoid of relationship with something or someone else. Relationship is not necessarily with another person. We can be 'in relationship' with an idea, a tree, with God, with anything. Whatever the relationship, it calls you out of yourself and, in some way, evokes more of what's inside you.' [Wolff] Because it mirrors some aspect of your self? [Wheatley] "Because being in relationship with the other demands that you contribute a part of yourself to create something entirely new. When two energies or elements combine, they form a new perception or entity. ... Everything exists because of everything else in the universe. Buddhism calls this 'dependent co-arising'."
- This is the other aspect of the interview that intrigued me – how much of Margaret Wheatley's spiritual perspective is based on science. Definitely not the usual source of spiritual inspiration! In the past few years, I experienced a shift in perspective. I've always been a small part of many groups, which used to make me feel scattered, and somewhat lonely because I felt the connections weren't as strong. Recently, I realized that I now perceive it as being in relationship with many groups, which allows me to be more. How do you perceive your relationships?
- I love this sentence: "Because being in relationship with the other demands that you contribute a part of yourself to create something entirely new." Makes me want to pay more attention to how I participate in my relationships. How would your own life be different if you were always mindful of your relationships (not just those with people)?
- Page 183 "Chaos can release your creative power in the same way that necessity is the mother of invention. When things get extreme, when the old ways don't work, that's when you are your most inventive. If you want to grow, chaos is an indispensable part of the process. There's no way around that. As the world or your life changes, you have to give up the behaviors, habits, relationships, and ideas that no longer help you make sense of the world around you. It's an enormous letting go. ... These days, everyone is scrambling to hold on to an old form of doing business based on hierarchy and prediction that no longer works in our rapidly changing world. If we spend our time trying to shore up institutional forms that aren't right for the future, we contribute to the creation of the meaninglessness we were talking about earlier. As soon as we identify that what's going on is a necessary precursor to new growth, that it's not anyone's fault, people actually relax because they realize they no longer have to figure out how to fix what's broken. They start to get engaged with thinking about what's next or what's new."
- Wow! Again, this is such a different way to perceive something that most of us dread! Especially given how chaotic the entire world now appears and how that realization often makes me feel helpless, Margaret Wheatley's perspective on chaos creates hope within me. It helps me recognize that I don't have to be tied to what has already been created, and be extremely creative about with the future. What is your reaction to her perspective?
- Was there a particular passage that made you stop and either consider or appreciate?