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Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World
Leadership and the New Science launched a revolution by demonstrating that ideas drawn from quantum physics, chaos theory, and molecular biology could improve organizational performance. Margaret Wheatley called for free-flowing information, individual empowerment, relationship networks, and organizational change that evolves organically -- ideas that have become commonplace. Now Wheatley's updated classic, based on her experiences with these ideas in a diverse number of organizations on five continents, is available in paperback.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
196 people are currently reading
3266 people want to read
About the author
Margaret J. Wheatley
33 books171 followersMargaret Wheatley, Ed.D. began caring about the world’s peoples in 1966 as a Peace Corps volunteer in post-war Korea. As a consultant, senior-level advisor, teacher, speaker, and formal leader, she has worked on all continents (except Antarctica) with all levels, ages, and types of organizations, leaders, and activists. Her work now focuses on developing and supporting leaders globally as Warriors for the Human Spirit. These leaders put service over self, stand steadfast through crises and failures, and make a difference for the people and causes they care about. With compassion and insight, they know how to invoke people’s inherent generosity, creativity, kindness, and community–no matter what’s happening around them.
Margaret has written ten books, including the classic Leadership and the New Science, and been honored for her pathfinding work by many professional associations, universities, and organizations. She received her Doctorate from Harvard University in 1979, an M.A. in Media Ecology from NYU in 1974, and a B.A. from University of Rochester in 1966. She spent a year at University College London 1964-65.
Margaret has written ten books, including the classic Leadership and the New Science, and been honored for her pathfinding work by many professional associations, universities, and organizations. She received her Doctorate from Harvard University in 1979, an M.A. in Media Ecology from NYU in 1974, and a B.A. from University of Rochester in 1966. She spent a year at University College London 1964-65.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
January 2, 2014
I blame myself for not reading an excerpt before buying this book. I assumed it was about using data to lead in an increasingly data heavy world. Instead it is about the similarities between quantum physics and leading an organisation.
The author contorts herself in all kinds of directions to draw parallels that could be read the opposite way in each case. Margaret Wheatley seems to exult in being as vague as possible and shies away from giving any real usable advice. It is literary masturbation and devoid of any real content. What I'm most impressed by is how she manages to stretch a glorified thought exercise into so many pages.
I judge a book by 2 criteria. Did I find it interesting and is there anything I can use from it in my life (personal or business)? A business book has to improve someone's knowledge of business by the end of it. This is a spectacular failure. I can understand why so many pseudo-literary business types will enjoy this book. I like plain words, clarity and decisiveness. This book will help no-one make more money for their organisation. The main lesson I learnt was about reading the reviews carefully first before buying my next book.
The author contorts herself in all kinds of directions to draw parallels that could be read the opposite way in each case. Margaret Wheatley seems to exult in being as vague as possible and shies away from giving any real usable advice. It is literary masturbation and devoid of any real content. What I'm most impressed by is how she manages to stretch a glorified thought exercise into so many pages.
I judge a book by 2 criteria. Did I find it interesting and is there anything I can use from it in my life (personal or business)? A business book has to improve someone's knowledge of business by the end of it. This is a spectacular failure. I can understand why so many pseudo-literary business types will enjoy this book. I like plain words, clarity and decisiveness. This book will help no-one make more money for their organisation. The main lesson I learnt was about reading the reviews carefully first before buying my next book.
February 3, 2016
This book gave me an epiphany on practically every page. I learned about both leadership and science. I think studying them together helps improve understanding of both disciplines.
The notes I’ve posted below generated a lot of fodder for discussions in classes I taught.
Wheatley compared “strange attractors” to having a sense of purpose. (Strange attractors draw chaotic matter in and pull the system into its shape.) A sense of purpose gives increased individual freedom. Your sense of purpose distinguishes you from your environment. It empowers slaves to be free and freemen to be enslaved.
Positive vs. Negative Feedback
“Positive [feedback loops] amplify like the ear-piercing shrieks of microphones . . . the amplification is threatening.”
Positive (open) feedback loops—Use active exchange with their world for renewal. Open systems seek non-equilibrium to change and grow.
Negative (closed) feedback loops—watch for departures from the norm.
For negative feedback simply watch for substandard performance and make corrections.
For positive feedback, generate active exchange with others.
“Openness to environmental information over time spawns a firmer sense of identity, one that is less permeable to externally induced change. High levels of autonomy and identity result from staying open to information from the outside.” p. 92
“What gives power its charge, positive or negative, is the quality of the relationships…Love…then, is the most potent source of power we have available. Those who relate through coercion, create negative energy. Those who are open to others and who see others in their fullness create positive energy.” p. 39
Relationships—Create Harmony through respect. Relationship connections travel faster than light.
“In the quantum world, relationships are … all there is to reality … Particles come into being ephemerally, through interactions with other energy sources. We give names to each of these sources—physicists still identify neutrons, electrons, etc.—but they are ‘intermediate states in a network of interactions.’” p. 33
“Nothing exists independent of its relationship with something else.” p. 34
“In a traditional organizational chart, where we draw lines to connect roles, it would be a breakthrough to think of the lines as reaction channels, lines along which energy was transferred to facilitate the creation of new things.” p. 70
“Freedom and order turn out to be partners in generating viable, well-ordered autonomous systems.” p. 95
“Information is an organization’s primary source of nourishment; it is so vital to survival that its absence creates a strong vacuum. If info is not available, people make it up.” (rumors, misinformation) p. 107
“Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines…” p. 113
The notes I’ve posted below generated a lot of fodder for discussions in classes I taught.
Wheatley compared “strange attractors” to having a sense of purpose. (Strange attractors draw chaotic matter in and pull the system into its shape.) A sense of purpose gives increased individual freedom. Your sense of purpose distinguishes you from your environment. It empowers slaves to be free and freemen to be enslaved.
Positive vs. Negative Feedback
“Positive [feedback loops] amplify like the ear-piercing shrieks of microphones . . . the amplification is threatening.”
Positive (open) feedback loops—Use active exchange with their world for renewal. Open systems seek non-equilibrium to change and grow.
Negative (closed) feedback loops—watch for departures from the norm.
For negative feedback simply watch for substandard performance and make corrections.
For positive feedback, generate active exchange with others.
“Openness to environmental information over time spawns a firmer sense of identity, one that is less permeable to externally induced change. High levels of autonomy and identity result from staying open to information from the outside.” p. 92
“What gives power its charge, positive or negative, is the quality of the relationships…Love…then, is the most potent source of power we have available. Those who relate through coercion, create negative energy. Those who are open to others and who see others in their fullness create positive energy.” p. 39
Relationships—Create Harmony through respect. Relationship connections travel faster than light.
“In the quantum world, relationships are … all there is to reality … Particles come into being ephemerally, through interactions with other energy sources. We give names to each of these sources—physicists still identify neutrons, electrons, etc.—but they are ‘intermediate states in a network of interactions.’” p. 33
“Nothing exists independent of its relationship with something else.” p. 34
“In a traditional organizational chart, where we draw lines to connect roles, it would be a breakthrough to think of the lines as reaction channels, lines along which energy was transferred to facilitate the creation of new things.” p. 70
“Freedom and order turn out to be partners in generating viable, well-ordered autonomous systems.” p. 95
“Information is an organization’s primary source of nourishment; it is so vital to survival that its absence creates a strong vacuum. If info is not available, people make it up.” (rumors, misinformation) p. 107
“Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines…” p. 113
August 29, 2017
Applying Quantum Physics to organizations... I am extrapolating the findings of the book beyond organizations and into families (acknowledged as organizations by many scholars) and parenting... What learnings of Quantum Physics can we take as parents for our interaction and "creation" of our children... I found a few...
"The quantum world asks us to contemplate other mysteries as well. It reveals the webs of connection that are everywhere, and tantalizes us with a question: How do influence and change occur within a web? Physicists have observed a level of connectedness among seemingly separate particles, even if separated by huge distances. After 1930, a great debate raged among the premier physicists, especially between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Could matter be affected by “non-local causes”? Could matter be changed by influences that travel faster than the speed of light? Einstein was so repelled at the idea of a universe where cause could happen at a distance that he designed a thought experiment with two other physicists (the EPR experiment) to disprove the whole idea. His experiment launched a lively debate in physics, and thirty years later, with the debate still raging, physicist John Bell constructed a mathematical proof to show that “instantaneous action-at-a-distance” could occur in the universe. Finally, in 1982 (and subsequently established in many other experiments), French physicist Alain Aspect conducted actual physical experiments proving that elementary particles are, indeed, affected by connections that exist invisibly across time and space (Gribbin 1984, 227ff). Here is one example of how action-at-a-distance is confirmed. Two electrons are first paired together or correlated. Tests are then conducted to determine whether such paired electrons, even when separated, will continue to act as one unified electron. Will their relationship survive at a distance? To determine whether these electrons behave as one, physicists can test their spin. Electrons spin along an axis, either up and down or side to side. However, being quantum phenomena, these axes do not preexist as objective reality. They exist only as potentials until the scientist decides on which axis to measure. There is no fixed spin to the electron; its spin appears based on what the scientist chooses to test for. The electrons respond to the scientist’s choice of measures. (If this is hard to comprehend, remember that the quantum realm is weird even to scientists.) Once two electrons have been paired, if one is observed to spin up, the other will spin down, or if one is observed to spin right, the other will spin left. In this experiment, the two paired electrons are separated. Theoretically, they could be across the universe. No matter the distance, at the moment one electron is measured for its spin—say that a vertical axis is chosen—the second electron will instantaneously display a vertical, but opposite, spin. How does this second electron, so far away, know which axis was chosen to measure? Formerly, scientists believed that nothing travels faster than the speed of light, yet these experiments seem to disconfirm that. One explanation that physicists offer is that the two electrons are linked by non-visible connections; they are, in fact, an indivisible whole that cannot be broken into parts, even when separated by space. When an attempt is made to measure them as discrete parts, scientists get stymied by the fact of their invisible connectedness."
"The quantum world asks us to contemplate other mysteries as well. It reveals the webs of connection that are everywhere, and tantalizes us with a question: How do influence and change occur within a web? Physicists have observed a level of connectedness among seemingly separate particles, even if separated by huge distances. After 1930, a great debate raged among the premier physicists, especially between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Could matter be affected by “non-local causes”? Could matter be changed by influences that travel faster than the speed of light? Einstein was so repelled at the idea of a universe where cause could happen at a distance that he designed a thought experiment with two other physicists (the EPR experiment) to disprove the whole idea. His experiment launched a lively debate in physics, and thirty years later, with the debate still raging, physicist John Bell constructed a mathematical proof to show that “instantaneous action-at-a-distance” could occur in the universe. Finally, in 1982 (and subsequently established in many other experiments), French physicist Alain Aspect conducted actual physical experiments proving that elementary particles are, indeed, affected by connections that exist invisibly across time and space (Gribbin 1984, 227ff). Here is one example of how action-at-a-distance is confirmed. Two electrons are first paired together or correlated. Tests are then conducted to determine whether such paired electrons, even when separated, will continue to act as one unified electron. Will their relationship survive at a distance? To determine whether these electrons behave as one, physicists can test their spin. Electrons spin along an axis, either up and down or side to side. However, being quantum phenomena, these axes do not preexist as objective reality. They exist only as potentials until the scientist decides on which axis to measure. There is no fixed spin to the electron; its spin appears based on what the scientist chooses to test for. The electrons respond to the scientist’s choice of measures. (If this is hard to comprehend, remember that the quantum realm is weird even to scientists.) Once two electrons have been paired, if one is observed to spin up, the other will spin down, or if one is observed to spin right, the other will spin left. In this experiment, the two paired electrons are separated. Theoretically, they could be across the universe. No matter the distance, at the moment one electron is measured for its spin—say that a vertical axis is chosen—the second electron will instantaneously display a vertical, but opposite, spin. How does this second electron, so far away, know which axis was chosen to measure? Formerly, scientists believed that nothing travels faster than the speed of light, yet these experiments seem to disconfirm that. One explanation that physicists offer is that the two electrons are linked by non-visible connections; they are, in fact, an indivisible whole that cannot be broken into parts, even when separated by space. When an attempt is made to measure them as discrete parts, scientists get stymied by the fact of their invisible connectedness."
March 26, 2011
Reading this for work. So far, I'm not finding it to be deeply inspiring. I agree with the premise, but I think there's a generational difference in my response - I've always known that we need to start in our communities, do what needs to be done, even if we don't know how to do i.t
June 7, 2011
Leadership and the New Science is in my top five books of all time. I've read it several times over the last decade. Reading it for the first time was a validating experience for me. I had always felt I was a misfit for not buying into what I can now term as, "the newtonian" philosophies of other business owners. I go back to it now to remind me to stay the course.
This book will change the way you think about the world and about business.
This book will change the way you think about the world and about business.
May 4, 2009
So far, this book has been tiresomely repetitive and the author is overly impressed by her personal 'voyage of discovery.'
April 1, 2012
This is one of the worst books I've ever read. I wish that I could have that time back. The author doesn't understand the science to which she refers, constantly choosing fringe researchers (example: Bohm, for quantum mechanics), incorrectly explaining the principles, and focusing on only the few disciplines that support her views. The writing is excessively flowery, to the point that it obscures what she is trying to say. I read all of the one-star reviews on Amazon.com, just to check whether I was missing some important contextual clue. I agreed with all of them. Don't waste your time or money.
April 21, 2016
Her take on the Science, I found I disagreed with much of her interpretations. It sparked the imagination but I would not particularly recommend this book because her take on the science I could not agree with.
January 24, 2019
A really lovely look at emergent theory and living through change. Not just for us organizational development folks but for anyone doing movement and organizing work. Got to keep gazing deep into those chasms.
A must for Emergent Strategy fans.
A must for Emergent Strategy fans.
September 3, 2017
I found this book to be a bit ridiculous, and if you don't fully understand the physics behind something, then you really shouldn't use the concepts/graphs/etc. in your academic work.
June 28, 2024
Tuve que leer este libro para la facu? Sí
Lo agrego igual al challenge? Sí, porque leer, lo leí
————-
Me hubiese gustado que tenga menos conceptos de biología. Sigo una carrera de económicas para que NO me hablen de células y átomos. No los entiendo y no los quiero entender.
Lo agrego igual al challenge? Sí, porque leer, lo leí
————-
Me hubiese gustado que tenga menos conceptos de biología. Sigo una carrera de económicas para que NO me hablen de células y átomos. No los entiendo y no los quiero entender.
March 9, 2023
This book is awesome and almost new age; thick w paradox and revealed a new to me Rumi quote. To me it’s related to paradox leadership lenses wherein recognition of the chaos of dialogue makes leadership a bit simpler
April 16, 2021
Love this kinda stuff. Chaos theory, organizational theory, systems thinking, correlations across disciplines. We need to move beyond the old school top down management science way of thinking to return to chaordic models of connecting, networking, imagining and implementing change together.
July 9, 2009
Leadership and the New Science
Margaret Wheatley
Wheatley's book continually challenges us to rethink our metaphors of organization, leadership and change. She encourages us to step back to see things whole, to be curious and to be vividly aware of relationships at the heart of how things work. She argues that people do not need to be "motivated;" each of us has a deep longing for "community, meaning, dignity, purpose and love." If we could invite everyone and connect with that longing, we would restore possibility in our world.
Although her extended metaphors and poetic sidebars might annoy some readers, they serve to push our thinking outside of the conventional paths to re-see our role as leaders - and as Meg Wheatley reminds us, we are all potentially leaders, for leadership is a behaviour, not a role.
Margaret Wheatley
Wheatley's book continually challenges us to rethink our metaphors of organization, leadership and change. She encourages us to step back to see things whole, to be curious and to be vividly aware of relationships at the heart of how things work. She argues that people do not need to be "motivated;" each of us has a deep longing for "community, meaning, dignity, purpose and love." If we could invite everyone and connect with that longing, we would restore possibility in our world.
Although her extended metaphors and poetic sidebars might annoy some readers, they serve to push our thinking outside of the conventional paths to re-see our role as leaders - and as Meg Wheatley reminds us, we are all potentially leaders, for leadership is a behaviour, not a role.
Read
April 3, 2016Two sides of the coin. On the one hand, she is a big thinker and cites science (and Karl Weick) to support her statements that everything is part of a system, that we are in a time of paradigm shift, and that leadership is about giving people the power to self-organize and accomplish work. Leadership is not strategic planning, but strategic thinking. On the other hand, much of this is her own biases, it seems to me, bending and swooping to cherry pick quotes to support herself. I agree with much of what she says, but it ain't science. I do agree with her statements on local change. There are a few quotes that support what we have tried to do in the EdD program. But I don't get why so many superlatives are lavished on this book unless those endorsers don't read much. So four stars if you haven't read much in leadership. Two stars if you have. Donated to library April 2016.
December 2, 2021
I was started on my systems thinking journey a few years ago by my mentor, Sekhar Chandrasekhar, who also gifted me this book recently. I know have a long way to go.
This is a superbly articulated book on Systems Thinking. The author shows us the importance of understanding the big picture of the environment and organization, and then drilling down to the parts, instead of only focusing on a part to understand the whole system.
The book is interspersed with examples, along with the author's own insights. Each time I picked up the book after putting it down, I found that I had to revisit a couple of paragraphs (sometimes a page) in order to pick up the thread. This should give you the idea of depth that the author takes you in this topic.
I will be reading this again, and again, because I know that I can use its insights in my Leadership workshops.
This is a superbly articulated book on Systems Thinking. The author shows us the importance of understanding the big picture of the environment and organization, and then drilling down to the parts, instead of only focusing on a part to understand the whole system.
The book is interspersed with examples, along with the author's own insights. Each time I picked up the book after putting it down, I found that I had to revisit a couple of paragraphs (sometimes a page) in order to pick up the thread. This should give you the idea of depth that the author takes you in this topic.
I will be reading this again, and again, because I know that I can use its insights in my Leadership workshops.
April 25, 2021
Written in 1999, it was before it's time. Wheatley is a harbinger of a type of organizational change that we are still only just beginning to scratch the surface of. I think this work will come into the fore over the coming years as organizations realize their need to evolve to deal with the ever-increasing rate of change that exists today.
As she points out in the book, new ideas emerge at the same time in different places. As Wheatley was coming to her realizations, Harrison Owen, Dee Hock, Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann, and Linda Gioja were coming to similar realizations around Chaos and organization.
As she points out in the book, new ideas emerge at the same time in different places. As Wheatley was coming to her realizations, Harrison Owen, Dee Hock, Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann, and Linda Gioja were coming to similar realizations around Chaos and organization.
April 23, 2011
If a person really put the ideas in this book to work, it could change their world. I read this book on a recommendation from the CEO of Nike
who used this as inspiration to re-structure his creative team. I was
interested. Loved the book. Gave it as a gift a couple of times but I guess I liked the book more than my friends did!
who used this as inspiration to re-structure his creative team. I was
interested. Loved the book. Gave it as a gift a couple of times but I guess I liked the book more than my friends did!
Read
January 28, 2009I just couldn't get into this book. Too "out there" for me. Maybe I'll give it another try once I've had a longer break from school...(probably not).
September 18, 2012
THE book to read, absorb, and enact for anyone who wants to be a wise leader ...
March 19, 2017
I really interested in leadership but not really interested in Phys and Bio. I still half way to go and thinking whether I should finish it or not. Bored....
Read
January 17, 2015You will never again think you can control outcomes after you read this book. You will think, "how do I get good information and have good relationships?" And the system will find an order.
July 29, 2019
I read this for school, so it wasn't my cup of tea. I especially had a hard time with the science part - it just didn't gel with the leadership theme for me.
November 28, 2022
Those critics who disparage this author for her misunderstandings of physics, such as they may be, miss the point of this book. As well, people who seeking a “data-driven,” “science-based” management model would be wise to look elsewhere. This is not a book about physics but an attempt to articulate a vague concept (“leadership”) through the author’s readings of popular science works on quantum physics, fractals, etc. (many of which are cool books themselves, at least in my estimation.) The author’s efforts are intriguing, particularly for this genre.
Wheatley's thesis mostly boils down to the problem: the folks in charge falsely equating them having control with everything being under control; and the solution: relationships, flexibility, context, information, improvisation, participation, and meaning. The book’s central conceit, not unfamiliar to mystics, occultists, and philosophers, is that order and chaos, equilibrium and innovation, are not opposed to one another, but in fact depend on one another for any system to stay vital. Interestingly, many of the ideas expressed here are now intrinsic to the professional self-vision of project management.
Some good quotes that convey a sense of the larger work:
"Improvisation is the saving skill." (p. 44)
Wheatley discussing “sometimes maddening” meetings or conversations that go in circles, in the context of the new science:
“[W]e would do well to take clouds more seriously.” (p. 99)
Wheatley's thesis mostly boils down to the problem: the folks in charge falsely equating them having control with everything being under control; and the solution: relationships, flexibility, context, information, improvisation, participation, and meaning. The book’s central conceit, not unfamiliar to mystics, occultists, and philosophers, is that order and chaos, equilibrium and innovation, are not opposed to one another, but in fact depend on one another for any system to stay vital. Interestingly, many of the ideas expressed here are now intrinsic to the professional self-vision of project management.
Some good quotes that convey a sense of the larger work:
Organizations lack this faith… that they can accomplish their purposes in various ways and that they do best when they focus on direction and vision, letting transient forms emerge and disappear. (p.16)
All this time, we have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order. (p. 22)
I have begun to think of all us of us in this way [i.e., as “bundles of potentiality”], for surely we are as undefinable, unanalyzable, and bundled with potential as anything in the universe. Different settings and people evoke some qualities from us and leave others dormant. In each of these relationships, we are different, new in some way…. Each of us is a different person in different places. This doesn’t make us inauthentic; it merely makes us quantum. (p. 34)
If nothing exists independent of its relationship with something else, we can move away from our need to think of things as polar opposites. (p. 34)
We do not, as some have suggested, create reality, but we are essential to its coming forth. (p. 36)
Acting should precede planning… because it is only through action and implementation that we create the environment…. In other words, we should concentrate on creating organizational wave packets, resources that continue to expand in potential until needed. (p. 37)
Now I look carefully at how a workplace organizes its relationships; not its tasks, functions, and hierarchies, but the patterns of relationship and the capacities available to form them. (p. 39)
The now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t quality of these boundaries will continue to drive us crazy as long as we try to delineate them, or to decipher clear lines of cause and effect between well-bounded concepts. (p. 41)
"Improvisation is the saving skill." (p. 44)
It is difficult to develop a new sensitivity to the fact that no form of measurement is neutral. Physicists call this awareness contextualism, a sensitivity to the interdependency between how things appear and the environment which causes them to appear. Contextualism raises some very important questions. How can we trust that we get the information we need to make intelligent decisions? How can we know what is the right information to look for? How can we remain sensitive to and retrieve the information we lost when we went looking for the information we got? (p. 63)
Wheatley discussing “sometimes maddening” meetings or conversations that go in circles, in the context of the new science:
Reality emerges from our process of observation, from decisions we the observers make about what we will see…. People can only become aware of the reality of [a] plan by interacting with it, by creating different possibilities through their personal processes of observation…. it is the participation process that generates the reality to which they can make their commitment. (p. 67)
[A]n organization can only exist in such a fluid fashion if it has access to new information, both about external factors and internal resources. It must constantly process this data with high levels of self-awareness, plentiful sensing devices, and a strong capacity for reflection. Combing through this constantly changing information, the organization can determine what choices are available, and what resources to rally in response. This is very different from the more traditional organizational response to information, where priority is given to maintaining existing operating forms and information is made to fit the structure so that little change is required. (p. 91)
As it matures and stabilizes, [a self-organizing system] becomes more efficient in the use of its resources and better able to exist within its environment. It establishes a basic structure that supports the development of the system. This structure then facilitates an insulation from the environment that protects the system from constant, reactive changes…. High levels of autonomy and identity result from staying open to information from the outside…. [W]e learn that useful boundaries develop through openness to the environment. (pp. 92-93)
The two forces that we have always placed in opposition to one another—freedom and order—turn out to be partners in generating viable, well-ordered, autonomous systems. If we allow autonomy at the local level, letting individuals or units be directed in their decisions by guideposts for organizational self-reference, we can achieve coherence and continuity. (p. 95)
“[W]e would do well to take clouds more seriously.” (p. 99)
The fuel of life is new information—novelty—ordered into new structures…. In fact, the greatest generator of information is chaos…. Information is the source of order; an order we do not impose, but an order nonetheless.(pp. 105-106)If information is not available, people make it up. Rumors proliferate, things get out of hand—all because people lack the real thing…. Employees know [accurate information] is the critical vital sign of organizational health. (p. 107)
We must embrace new information, “[n]ot so that we open ourselves to indiscriminate chaos, but so that we facilitate aliveness and responsiveness.” (p. 108)We’ve been so engaged in rounding things off, smoothing things over, keeping the lid on (the metaphors are numerous), that our organizations have been dying, literally, for information they could feed on, information that was different, disconfirming, and filled with enough instability to knock the system into new life. (p. 108)We need to open the gates to more information, in more places and to seek out information that is ambiguous, complex, of no immediate value. (p. 109)Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren’t there before. When this information self-organizes, innovations occur, the progeny of information-rich, ambiguous environments. (p. 113)We also create order when we invite conflicts and contradictions to rise to the surface, when we search them out, highlight them, even allowing them to grow large and worrisome. We need to support people in the hunt for unsettling or disconfirming information, and provide them with the resources of time, colleagues, and opportunities for processing the information. (p. 116)
Managers as “equilibrium busters” = “No longer the caretakers of order, we become the facilitators of disorder.” (p. 116)
“lattice organizations” = “the issue was not who or what position would take of the problem, but what energy, skill, influence, and wisdom were available to contribute to the solution” (p. 117)[W]e are engaging in a fundamentally new relationship with order, order that is identified in processes that only temporarily manifest themselves in structures. (p. 119)
“Meaning” as a Strange AttractorWhat leaders are called upon in a chaotic world is to shape their organizations through concepts, not through elaborate rules or structures. (p. 133)In a corporate reorganization, where most employees had lost purpose, those who continued to work hard “were staying creative, making sense out of non-sense, because they had taken the time to create a meaning for their work, one that transcended present organizational circumstances. They wanted to hold onto motivation and direction in the midst of turbulence, and the only way they could do this was by investing the current situation with meaning…. In some ways, the future of the organization became irrelevant. They held onto personal coherence because of the meaning attractor they created. (pp. 134-135)
August 17, 2020
"I crave companions, not competitors. I want people to sail with me through this puzzling and frightening world. I expect to fail at moments on this journey, to get lost--how could I not? And I expect you too will fail...To stay the course, we need patience compassion, and forgiveness," writes Margaret Wheatley (2006) in "Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World". I feel the compassion Wheatley explores here is something that we all need to hear, but let's start at the beginning.
I was new to Wheatley, so I wan't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that in the end, it is another argument for the value of systems thinking. Since I have recently finished Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline", Wheatley has helped me to better understand what systems thinking looks like in the real world.
The main focus early in the book is that the natural sciences show that nature is made of highly organized systems that, while appearing to be chaotic, are really highly ordered. Wheatley takes this idea and applies is to leadership science. While a lot of the book is very "fluffy" and "pie-in-the-sky" feeling, the final chapter, aptly called "The Real World" really brings her argument into focus. In it, she describes the mess that was FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina. The problem, she says, is that too many people felt bound to rigid hierarchy, preventing them from taking the actions needed to save lives. In fact, she tells of dozens of firefighters who, instead of being in the thick of things helping to save people as they wanted, were stuck in a conference hall learning about human resources. Needless to say, they were not happy and many actually went home without being able to help. Her argument is that this is what linear thinking causes.
On the other hand, many average, everyday people became heroes because they self-organized and found ways to save the people without worrying about government oversight or bureaucracy. She uses this as an example of what true systems-thinking looks like.
Overall, if you already have a basic understanding of systems thinking, you may want to skip to chapter 9 and 10; the science in the first part of the book seems interesting, but ultimately, I think it takes up too much of the book. I wish Wheatley had included more real-life examples and what systems thinking really looks like in the real world.
I was new to Wheatley, so I wan't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that in the end, it is another argument for the value of systems thinking. Since I have recently finished Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline", Wheatley has helped me to better understand what systems thinking looks like in the real world.
The main focus early in the book is that the natural sciences show that nature is made of highly organized systems that, while appearing to be chaotic, are really highly ordered. Wheatley takes this idea and applies is to leadership science. While a lot of the book is very "fluffy" and "pie-in-the-sky" feeling, the final chapter, aptly called "The Real World" really brings her argument into focus. In it, she describes the mess that was FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina. The problem, she says, is that too many people felt bound to rigid hierarchy, preventing them from taking the actions needed to save lives. In fact, she tells of dozens of firefighters who, instead of being in the thick of things helping to save people as they wanted, were stuck in a conference hall learning about human resources. Needless to say, they were not happy and many actually went home without being able to help. Her argument is that this is what linear thinking causes.
On the other hand, many average, everyday people became heroes because they self-organized and found ways to save the people without worrying about government oversight or bureaucracy. She uses this as an example of what true systems-thinking looks like.
Overall, if you already have a basic understanding of systems thinking, you may want to skip to chapter 9 and 10; the science in the first part of the book seems interesting, but ultimately, I think it takes up too much of the book. I wish Wheatley had included more real-life examples and what systems thinking really looks like in the real world.
April 14, 2018
Читала цю книгу вже двічі. Вона ставить хороші питання: як у світі хаосу та безперервних змін мають функціонувати та розвиватися організації? Для мене ж ключове питання: які сили допомагають людям ставати самоорганізованими системами? Автор посилається багато на закони квантової фізики, що стимулює думати більше. Мені не вистачило ще одного розділу про перехід від мехіністичного суспільства до суспільства, де лідерство буде починати із кожної окремої людини і одночано не трактуватиметься як сила посади чи позиції, ресурсів , інше (тобто "згори"), натомість людина відчуватиме, що вона належить до цілого і вмає безперервну відповільаність щодо самоорганізації.
Деякі цитати:
"...the system never behaves the same way... but as a chaos theory shows, if we look at such system over a time, it demonstrates an inherent order"
"Organizations lack this kind of faith that they can accomplish their processes in varied ways and they do best when they focus on intent and vision letting form emerge and disappear"
"...nothing happens until you see it"
"What we call reality it is revealed to us only through an active construction in which we participate"
"Many organizations struggle how to use the information to become more intelligent. (...) Thinking is a critical thing"
Critical skills are abilities to generate knowledge and share it.
"We need to learn more about the sources of order"
Деякі цитати:
"...the system never behaves the same way... but as a chaos theory shows, if we look at such system over a time, it demonstrates an inherent order"
"Organizations lack this kind of faith that they can accomplish their processes in varied ways and they do best when they focus on intent and vision letting form emerge and disappear"
"...nothing happens until you see it"
"What we call reality it is revealed to us only through an active construction in which we participate"
"Many organizations struggle how to use the information to become more intelligent. (...) Thinking is a critical thing"
Critical skills are abilities to generate knowledge and share it.
"We need to learn more about the sources of order"
August 23, 2018
This book was assigned in my Foundations of Leadership class in my Master's of Organizational Leadership program.
This book was a fascinating and highly engaging read! The basic premise of the book is an analysis of scientific discoveries pertaining to systems and networks in the fields of quantum physics, chaos theory, etc. and drawing upon a number of these scientific principles and exploring how they can be applied to improve man-made organizations and systems. There were some very unusual connections and fascinating insights made by the author. I think she is on to some good ideas. This book was definitely a thought-provoking, big idea kind of book. It is a big-picture, paradigm-shifting kind of book. It is very light on the specific prescriptions or applications of leadership. It is a lot more about introducing a different perspective about the world, organizations, and leadership. I am really glad I read it. I don't necessarily agree with every idea the author presented, but I think she offers a lot of great ideas that are very worth pondering, considering, and applying.
This book was a fascinating and highly engaging read! The basic premise of the book is an analysis of scientific discoveries pertaining to systems and networks in the fields of quantum physics, chaos theory, etc. and drawing upon a number of these scientific principles and exploring how they can be applied to improve man-made organizations and systems. There were some very unusual connections and fascinating insights made by the author. I think she is on to some good ideas. This book was definitely a thought-provoking, big idea kind of book. It is a big-picture, paradigm-shifting kind of book. It is very light on the specific prescriptions or applications of leadership. It is a lot more about introducing a different perspective about the world, organizations, and leadership. I am really glad I read it. I don't necessarily agree with every idea the author presented, but I think she offers a lot of great ideas that are very worth pondering, considering, and applying.
February 10, 2020
Chaos systems have upper limits, and that should give comfort to managers. We need to change our thinking about management, like scientists did when they went from a Newtonian science to quantum physics.
Why I started this book: Another short Professional Reading title, that I could multi-task as I prepare some crafts for my library.
Why I finished it: Interesting, but many other reviewers pointed out how vague she was and her surface level understanding of the science she is quoting. Since I'm generally at the same level, it sounded fine... I like the ideas that we need new thinking and focus of relationships to increase the flow of information in our organizations and problem solving abilities. Life finds a way... but the argument that it will always get better is suspect. Crocodiles have been around for a very long time... and they are still competing with the more evolved mammals. How does that fit with business, I'm not sure and neither was Wheatley.
Read along with Drift into Failure.
Why I started this book: Another short Professional Reading title, that I could multi-task as I prepare some crafts for my library.
Why I finished it: Interesting, but many other reviewers pointed out how vague she was and her surface level understanding of the science she is quoting. Since I'm generally at the same level, it sounded fine... I like the ideas that we need new thinking and focus of relationships to increase the flow of information in our organizations and problem solving abilities. Life finds a way... but the argument that it will always get better is suspect. Crocodiles have been around for a very long time... and they are still competing with the more evolved mammals. How does that fit with business, I'm not sure and neither was Wheatley.
Read along with Drift into Failure.
January 28, 2019
I'm not quite sure how to rate this one - 3.5 stars, I guess. This book was recommended to me by Praveen Madan, CEO of Kepler's Bookstores and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Berrett-Koehler Publisher, as a book that had been particularly influential to his thinking about management.
Unlike any other business book I've read - the science definitely felt over my head and I found myself having to just absorb the analogies rather than understand them. But I also found this book to be profound, delightfully poetic, challenging, and wise. There's no clear action plan here, but rather a call for a shift in awareness and mindset. Having worked for Shambhala Publications now for a few years I can also see that much of the author's thinking is inspired by Buddhism, Taoism, Aikido, and the work of Ken Wilber.
I would be interested in reading another Margaret Wheatley book and would love to hear her speak one day. A vast and fascinating mind.
Unlike any other business book I've read - the science definitely felt over my head and I found myself having to just absorb the analogies rather than understand them. But I also found this book to be profound, delightfully poetic, challenging, and wise. There's no clear action plan here, but rather a call for a shift in awareness and mindset. Having worked for Shambhala Publications now for a few years I can also see that much of the author's thinking is inspired by Buddhism, Taoism, Aikido, and the work of Ken Wilber.
I would be interested in reading another Margaret Wheatley book and would love to hear her speak one day. A vast and fascinating mind.
September 30, 2023
Wheatley is a great writer for mass audiences. She comes from a business consulting world, and this book is how she discovered the "new science" and started exploring how it might apply to her field. In this case the "new science" is what is gradually replacing our longstanding Newtonian world view of a mechanistic universe full of linear cause and effect relationships--namely quantum physics and the idea that reality is relational and that we create reality through observation and that meaning comes through our own actions.
I came to this because of a career change where I will try to teach similar principles in healthcare settings so we can design more effective (less mechanistic, command-and-control) organizations in healthcare. But I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in making the world a better place!
I came to this because of a career change where I will try to teach similar principles in healthcare settings so we can design more effective (less mechanistic, command-and-control) organizations in healthcare. But I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in making the world a better place!
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