For us, someone who is willing to step forward and help is much more courageous than someone who is merely fulfilling the role.
Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well.
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.
There are many benefits to this process of listening. The first is that good listeners are created as people feel listened to. Listening is a reciprocal process - we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.
Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place.
Organisations are now confronted with two sources of change: the traditional type that is initiated and managed; and external changes over which no one has control.
For example, I was discussing the use of email and how impersonal it can be, how people will now email someone across the room rather than go and talk to them. But I don't think this is laziness, I think it is a conscious decision people are making to save time.
Everyone in a complex system has a slightly different interpretation. The more interpretations we gather, the easier it becomes to gain a sense of the whole.
Hopelessness has surprised me with patience.
I think it is quite dangerous for an organisation to think they can predict where they are going to need leadership. It needs to be something that people are willing to assume if it feels relevant, given the context of any situation.
I believe that our very survival depends upon us becoming better systems thinkers.
In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.
Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.
Aggression only moves in one direction - it creates more aggression.
Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.
For eons, humans have struggled to find less destructive ways of living together.
Aggression is the most common behavior used by many organizations, a nearly invisible medium that influences all decisions and actions.
We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order.
I've wanted to see beyond the Western, mechanical view of the world and see what else might appear when the lens was changed.
