She exposes the bright conclusions from her experience of working as a consultant, and these conclusions are confirmed by quantum physics as well:

- The things we fear most in organizations - disruptions, confusion, chaos - need not be interpreted as signs that we are about to be destroyed. Instead, these conditions are necessary to awaken creativity.

- What is critical is the relationship created between two or more elements. Systems influence individuals, and individuals call form systems.

- There is no objective reality; the environment we experience does not exist "out there". It is co-created through our acts of observation, what we choose to notice and worry about.

- Acting should precede planning.

- Instead of the ability to analyze and predict, we need to know how to stay acutely aware of what's happening now, and we need to be better, faster learners from what just happened.

- We need fewer descriptions of tasks and instead learn how to facilitate process.

- Power becomes a problem, not a capacity. People use their creativity to work against these leaders, or in spite of them; they refuse to contribute positively to the organization.

- Those who have used music metaphors to describe working together, especially jazz metaphors, are sensing to the nature of this quantum world. This world demands that we be present together, and be willing to improvise.

- If a manager is told that a new trainee is particularly gifted, that manager will see genius emerging from the trainee's mouth even in obscure statements. But if the manager is told that his or her new hire is a bit slow on the uptake, the manager will interpret a brilliant idea as a sure sign of sloppy thinking of obfuscation.

- In quantum world, what you see is what you get.

- Every time we go to measure something, we interfere.

- A place where the act of looking for certain information evokes the information we went looking for - and simultaneously eliminates our opportunity to observe other information.

- Every observation is preceded by a choice about what to observer.

- We all construct the world though lenses of our own making and use these to filter and select.

- It simply doesn't work to ask people to sign on when they haven't been involved in the planning process.

- Roles mean nothing without understanding the network of relationships and the resources that are required to support the work of that person. In this relational world, it is foolish to think we can define any person solely in terms of isolated tasks and accountabilities.

- What is distinguishable and important, he says, are the kinds of connections.

- Our old views constrain us. They deprive us from engaging fully with this universe of potentials.

Based on the parallels above mentioned, Margaret J. Weathley brings lot of compelling ideas about the leadership and organizational management. This book isn't a collection of dos and don'ts, but invigorates deep creative thinking.


What a find!   August 16, 2001
19 out of 22 found this review helpful

Executive Summary for the Leadership and the New Science Presentation Margaret Wheatley opens up a whole new world of thought in her book Leadership and the New Science. She brings about a revolutionary way of thinking about organizations by relating scientific discoveries to organizational behavior. She abandons 17th century Newtonian mindsets to embrace a more holistic and organic view of the world. This book can help give you the tools to successfully navigate the rough waters of rapid change in organizations; you find yourself welcoming change rather than fearing it. A must read for anyone that aspires to succeed and values personal growth.

She touches scientific breakthroughs in the areas of quantum physics, chemistry, and biology. Other topics that are covered include chaos theory and change. She uses discoveries in quantum physics to explain that the universe is interconnected and relies on an infinite series of relationships. Biology and chemistry discoveries are used as metaphors to explain that disequilibrium and change are requirements for systems to grow and survive in our ever-changing universe. Chaos theory is used to explain that chaos is needed to create new order. She explains that stability is never guaranteed and should not be desired. Fractals are used as metaphors to explain these concepts.


Deep   August 12, 2006
William Pinches (Mason, MI USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is a book to be savored slowly. Fundamentally, the book is about organizations, and why all our modern organizations aren't working so well these days.

Wheatley connects our struggling modern organizations with the scientific worldview that was reigning dominant in western civilization when these organizations were created. Modern organizations were birthed in an era that was steeped in Newtonian and Descartian understandings -- understandings that sought to make sense of reality by isolating things down into their smallest component parts (examples: protons, neutrons, and electrons; reading, writing, and arithmatic) and seeing these component parts as essential parts of a larger machine. Those kinds of understandings were appropriate . . . then.

Wheatley suggests that just as Newtonian and Descartian understandings of reality are giving way to new discoveries in biology, chaos theory, and quantum physics, so too do the structures of the organizations we have created need to give way to new, emerging realities. In the "new science," we now understand that the relational dynamics in a system are at least as important as the individual component parts. Rather than an atomistic view, we now need a systemic view.

Wheatley writes this book for people who work in organizations that function like machines. If one part of the machine breaks down, the whole machine stops. Her basic advice: stop trying to fix the machine! Take a step back, ask yourself: "What, exactly, is this machine trying to do?", and then consider: "Are there simpler ways to do that?" Near the beginning of chapter 1, she gives an analogy of a stream on a mission. The only thing the water wants to do (to the extent that the water has a "will," of course) is go downhill, and eventually get to the ocean. It doesn't care how it gets there. It will always take the simplest route. But we, in our industry, have created machines that are based on structures -- as if the only way for the water to reach the ocean is through this particular channel that we have dug. Our modern organizations, therefore, tend to focus more on structure than on mission. (Difficult words for me to hear, as someone who calls himself "Presbyterian," the very name of which has to do with structure and not with mission!) The implications of this little analogy kept me thinking for days.

That's just the beginning. The whole book is like that . . . savor this, enjoy this. Take it slowly. Let the ideas and concepts in this book permeate into you. I routinely found that Wheatley's discussion was leading me into very interesting conceptual thinking about the way we do things. What happens when our structures actually get in the way of our mission? Are there better ways to self-organize to promote the mission of the organization?

Be warned: this book will open your eyes to a whole new way of conceptualizing the universe and the systems that inhabit this universe. You won't be the same person by the time you are done. And you won't regret it, either.


6 stars if they were available   April 19, 2000
Jack Ricchiuto, author of Collaborative Creativity and Accidental Conversations (USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

This may not be the book for everybody. It (like Meg's other) evokes the poetry of science (not the oxymoron one might think) that provokes rather than prescribes.

This is not for those pining for the next Martha (Stewart) of linear wisdom. It is for those bold enough to apply new frames to the emerging business landscape.

I have required and will continue to require this read to MBA students who want to succeed in a world that at best makes no sense, but must be navigated for its quantum possibilities nevertheless.