Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Circles create soothing space.
Who you are depends on who you meet.
You can’t hate someone whose story you know.
Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.
All social change begins with a conversation.
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way.
Power is the capacity to generate relationships.
Life is creative. It makes it up as it goes along.
This is a world of process, not a world of things.
Ask what's possible, not what's wrong. Keep asking.
Independence is a political concept, not a biological concept.
We need to move from the leader as hero, to the leader as host.
Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.
To make a system stronger, we need to make stronger relationships.
When error holds so much power, play disappears. Creativity ceases.
Aggression only moves in one direction - it creates more aggression.
Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.
Life doesn't move in straight lines, and neither does a good conversation.
Aggression only breeds more aggression. It only creates more fear and anger.
We could focus our efforts on discovering solutions that work uniquely for us.
Disorder can play a critical role in giving birth to new, higher forms of order.
For eons, humans have struggled to find less destructive ways of living together.
It's not differences that divide us. It's our judgments about each other that do.
I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers.
Very great change starts from very small conversations, held among people who care.
Space is the basic ingredient of the universe; there is more of it than anything else.
There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order.
We would do well to ponder the realization that love is the most potent source of power.
We know from science that nothing in the universe exists as an isolated or independent entity.
Circles create soothing space, where even reticent people can realize that their voice is welcome.
Listening is a reciprocal process - we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.
A world based on machine images is a world filled with boundaries. In a machine, every piece knows its place.
Perseverance is a choice. It's not a simple, one-time choice, it's a daily one. There's never a final decision.
Thinking is always dangerous to the status quo. [...] The moment you start thinking, you'll want to change something.
Too many problem-solving sessions become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence.
We are, always, poets, exploring possibilities of meaning in a world which is also all the time exploring possibilities.
The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances - are the primary sources of creativity.
Without aggression, it becomes possible to think well, to be curious about differences, and to enjoy each other's company.
When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed.
In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.
I've wanted to see beyond the Western, mechanical view of the world and see what else might appear when the lens was changed
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.
I believe that the capacity that any organization needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.
I believe that the capacity that any organisation needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.
I've wanted to see beyond the Western, mechanical view of the world and see what else might appear when the lens was changed.
For us, someone who is willing to step forward and help is much more courageous than someone who is merely fulfilling the role.
Destroying is a necessary function in life. Everything has its season, and all things eventually lose their effectiveness and die.
Power in organizations is the capacity generated by relationships. It is an energy that comes into existence through relationships.
Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.