Looks at the power of conversation for changing everything from personal relationships to organisational dysfunction, and then suggests conversation starters for meaningful discussions.

The new edition of the bestselling, acclaimed, and influential guide to applying the new science to organizations and management. In this new edition, Margaret Wheatley describes how the new science radically alters our understanding of the world and how it can teach us to live and work well together in these chaotic times. We live in a time of chaos, rich in potential for new possibilities. A new world is being born. We need new ideas, new ways of seeing, and new relationships to help us now. New science—the new discoveries in biology, chaos theory, and quantum physics that are changing our understanding of how the world works—offers this guidance. It describes a world where chaos is natural, where order exists "for free." It displays the intricate webs of cooperation that connect us. It assures us that life seeks order, but uses messes to get there. This book will teach you how to move with greater certainty and easier grace into the new forms of organizations and communities that are taking shape. You'll learn that: • Relationships are what matters—even at the subatomic level • Life is a vast web of interconnections where cooperation and participation are required • Chaos and change are the only route to transformation In this expanded edition, Wheatley provides examples of how non-linear networks and self-organizing systems are flourishing in the modern world. In the midst of turbulence, Wheatley shows, we create work and lives rich in meaning.

In a world we cannot recognize, how do we find a way forward? In this world we do not understand, how do we know what to do? When so little is comprehensible, what is meaningful work? What is genuine contribution? Bestselling author Margaret Wheatley has summoned us to be courageous leaders who strengthen community and rely on fully engaged people since her 1992 classic book, Leadership and the New Science, and eight subsequent books. In response to how quickly society is changing and the exponential increase in leadership challenges, this second edition of her latest bestseller is 80% new material. How do we see clearly so that we can act wisely? Wheatley brings present reality into clear and troubling focus using multiple lenses of Western and Indigenous sciences, and the historic patterns of collapse in complex civilizations. With gentle but insistent guidance to face reality, she offers us the path and practices to be sane leaders who know how to evoke people's inherent generosity, creativity, and kindness. Skillfully weaving science, history, exemplars, poetry, and quotes with stories and practices, Wheatley asks us to be Warriors for the Human Spirit, leaders and citizens who stay engaged, choose service over self, stand steadfast in the midst of crises, and offer our reliable presence of compassion and insight no matter what.

By the bestselling author of Leadership and the New Science and Turning to One Another Thoughtful, compassionate reflections on how we can carry on with joy despite difficulties, challenges, and disappointments Illuminated by both beautiful original paintings and by poems and quotations from a variety of traditions and cultures In this inspiring and beautifully illustrated book, bestselling author Margaret Wheatley offers guidance to people everywhere for how to persevere through challenges in their personal lives, with their families, at their workplaces, in their communities, and in their struggles to make a better world. She provides hope, wisdom, and perspective for learning the discipline of perseverance. Wheatley does not offer the usual feel-good, rah-rah messages. Instead, she focuses on the situations, feelings, and challenges that can, over time, cause us to lose heart or lose our way. Perseverance is a day-by-day decision not to give up. We have to notice the moments when we feel lost or overwhelmed or betrayed or exhausted and note how we respond to them. And we have to notice the rewarding times, when we experience the joy of working together on something hard but worthwhile, when we realize we’ve made a small difference. In a series of concise and compassionate essays Wheately names a behavior or dynamic—such as fearlessness, guilt, joy, jealousy—that supports or impedes our efforts to persevere. She puts each in a broader human or timeless perspective, offering ways to either live by or transcend each one. These essays are self-contained—you can thumb through the book and find what attracts you in the moment. Perseverance helps you to see yourself and your situation clearly and assume responsibility for changing a situation or our reaction to it if it’s one that troubles us. There deliberately are no examples of other people or their experiences. You are the example—your personal experiences are the basis for change. In addition to Wheatley’s graceful essays there are poems and quotations drawn from traditions and cultures around the world and throughout history. The book is deeply grounded spiritually, accessing human experience and wisdom from many sources. This grounding and inclusiveness support the essential message—human being throughout time have persevered. We’re just the most recent ones to face these challenges, and we can meet them as those who came before us did. As Wheatley quotes the elders of the Hopi Nation: “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

Using new science discoveries in quantum physics, class theory & biology to improve leadership, organizations & life.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of her classic Leadership and the New Science, bestselling author Margaret Wheatley once again turns to the new science of living systems to help leaders persevere in a time of great turmoil. I know it is possible for leaders to use their power and influence, their insight and compassion, to lead people back to an understanding of who we are as human beings, to create the conditions for our basic human qualities of generosity, contribution, community and love to be evoked no matter what. I know it is possible to experience grace and joy in the midst of tragedy and loss. I know it is possible to create islands of sanity in the midst of wildly disruptive seas. I know it is possible because I have worked with leaders over many years in places that knew chaos and breakdown long before this moment. And I have studied enough history to know that such leaders always arise when they are most needed. Now it's our turn.

What Would It Be Like to Restore Sanity? What would it be like to work together again in creative and generous ways? What would it be like to be curious about who you're with rather than judging or fearing them? What would it be like to engage together in exploring possibilities rather than withdrawing in conflict or disagreement? What would it be like to be working well together? From 50 years working with leaders globally, I state with full confidence that leadership has never been more difficult. And it's not our fault. We've been good and caring leaders, we've led people in empowering, engaging ways to create meaningful, productive work. But now we face external conditions far beyond our control to change, dynamics intensifying at shocking speed. The perfect storm is here, created by the coalescence of climate and human-created catastrophes. As leaders dedicated to serving the causes and people we treasure, confronted by this unrelenting tsunami, what are we to do? I state my answer to this also with full confidence: We need to restore sanity by awakening the human spirit. We can achieve this only if we undertake the most challenging and meaningful work of our leader lives: Creating Islands of Sanity. An Island of Sanity is a gift of possibility and refuge created by people's commitment to form healthy community to do meaningful work. It requires sane leaders with unshakable faith in people's innate generosity, creativity, and kindness. It sets itself apart as an island to protect itself from the life-destroying dynamics, policies, and behaviors that oppress and deny the human spirit. No matter what is happening around us, we can discover practices that enliven our human spirits and produce meaningful contributions for this time.

The acclaimed author “richly articulates how the insights of modern science . . . can usher in a new era of human and planetary health” (Systems Thinker). For years, Margaret Wheatley has written eloquently about humanizing our organizations and helping people to work together more effectively and compassionately. She has shown how breakthroughs in chaos theory and quantum physics can enable organizations to function more like responsive, self-organizing living systems, rather than cold mechanisms of control. And she has gradually expanded these ideas into the wider arena of human society. In short, Margaret Wheatley is one of the most innovative and influential organizational thinkers of our time, and Finding Our Way brings together her shorter writings for the first time, touching on all the topics she has addressed throughout her career, showing how she has applied the ideas in her books in many different situations. “However,” she writes, “this is not a collection of articles. I updated, revised, or substantially added to the original content of each one. In this way, everything written here represents my current views on the subjects I write about.” Provocative, challenging, at times poetic, and often deeply moving, Finding Our Way sums up Wheatley’s thinking on a diverse scope of topics from leadership and management to education and raising children in turbulent times; from societal commentary to specific organizational techniques and more. “Wheatley provocatively lays out how managers must operate to be effective in a system that is ‘alive’ . . . Finding Our Way challenges us to see the enterprises we lead in new light.” —Leader’s Beacon

Vivimos en organizaciones diseadas desde una concepcin newtoniana del universo. Conducimos empresas que debern sobrevivir en el siglo XXI con paradigmas y supuestos que provienen de la fsica del siglo XVII, pero la ciencia ha cambiado y si queremos seguir nutrindonos de los aportes del conocimiento, debemos al menos afirmar nuestro trabajo en la ciencia de nuestra poca.El Liderazgo y la Nueva Ciencia, un best-seller en los Estados Unidos, es una nueva visin de la realidad organizativa a partir de un nueva lectura del universo.Margaret Wheatley utiliza conocimientos provenientes de la fsica cuntica, la teora del caos y la fsica molecular como metforas para reenfocar las preguntas bsicas de la organizacin en nuestro tiempos.Cmo hallar orden en un universo catico?Por qu orden no es sinnimo de control?Cmo podemos crear organizaciones ms abiertas, participativas y con mayor capacidad de adaptacin?De qu manera es posible conciliar autonoma individual y control organizativo?Qu hace que una organizacin se renueve y crezca en vez de declinar y morir?Una obra indispensable para managers reflexivos, consultores o profesores dispuestos a explorar nuevos paradigmas organizacionales.Margaret J. Wheatley es profesora asociada de Management en la Brighman Young University, presidenta de The Berkana y consultora de una amplia variedad de grandes organizaciones empresarias, educativas y sin fines de lucro.Ilustracin en tapa, pjaro trialado un 'strange attractor' catico realizado por Mario Markus y Benno Hess.

For years, Margaret Wheatley has written eloquently about humanizing our organizations and helping people to work together more effectively and compassionately. She has shown how breakthroughs in chaos theory and quantum physics can enable organizations to function more like responsive, self-organizing living systems, rather than cold mechanisms of control. And she has gradually expanded these ideas into the wider arena of human society. In short, Margaret Wheatley is one of the most innovative and influential organizational thinkers of our time, and Finding Our Way brings together her shorter writings for the first time, touching on all the topics she has addressed throughout her career, showing how she has applied the ideas in her books s in many different situations. “The pieces presented here”, she writes, “represent ten years of work, of how I took the ideas in my books and applied them in practice in many different situations. However, this is not a collection of articles. I updated, revised, or substantially added to the original content of each one. In this way, everything written here represents my current views on the subjects I write about.” Provocative, challenging, at times poetic, and often deeply moving, Finding Our Way sums up Wheatley's thinking on a diverse scope of topics from leadership and management to education and raising children in turbulent times; from societal commentary to specific organizational techniques and more.