Leadership and the New Science. Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. Margaret J. Wheatley
the terrifying images of these times – wars, terrorism, migrations of displaced people, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis. Chaos and global interconnectedness are part of our daily lives. We try hard to respond to these challenges and threats through our governments, organizations and as individuals, but our actions fail us. No matter what we do, stability and lasting solutions elude us. It’s time to realize that we will never cope with this new world using our old maps. It is our fundamental way of interpreting the world – our worldview – that must change. Only such a shift can give us the capacity to understand what’s going on, and to respond wisely
I’ve been out in the world for many years describing the new worldview that science offers us. In my travels, I’ve met hundreds of thousands of people who have shifted their view and are creating organizations that are adaptive, creative and resilient. Yet many others are more cautious and doubtful. Some people can’t be convinced that anything has really changed – the old ways still work fine for them. Others believe that organizations can only function well, especially in times of chaos, by using command and control leadership and hierarchical structures. And many want evidence that these strange new concepts apply ‘to the real world.’
Here is the real world as I experience it. It is a world where small groups of enraged people alter the politics of the most powerful nations on earth. It is a world where very slight changes in the temperature of oceans cause violent weather that brings great hardship to people living far from those oceans. It is a world where pandemics kill tens of millions and viruses leap carelessly across national boundaries. It is a world of increased fragmentation where people retreat into positions and identities. It is a world where we have very different interpretations of what’s going on, even though we look at the same information. It is a world of constant surprise, where we never know what we’ll hear when we turn on the news. It is a world where change is just the way it is.
This dramatic and turbulent world makes a mockery of our plans and predictions. It keeps us on edge, anxious and sleepless. Nothing makes sense anymore. Meaning eludes us. Some offer explanations that this is the end of times or the age of destruction.
Whatever your personal beliefs and experiences, I invite you to consider that we need a new worldview to navigate this chaotic time. We cannot hope to make sense using our old maps. It won’t help to dust them off or reprint them in bold colors. The more we rely on them, the more disoriented we become. They cause us to focus on the wrong things and blind us to what’s significant. Using them, we will journey only to greater chaos.
Now that I’ve spent years applying the lens of new science to organizations, communities, governments, nation states, and to myself and family, I can report on the gifts available with a new paradigm. I have discovered insights and explanations about why things are unfolding as they are. I have been inspired to experiment with new ideas and solutions. I feel I am learning how to move more effectively and gracefully through this time.
But I have also discovered how hard it is to surrender a worldview. When scientists confronted this challenge at the beginning of the 20th century, they couldn’t accept the world revealed to them in their experiments. They described this new world as strange, puzzling, troubling, bizarre, absurd.
When our worldview doesn’t work any longer and we feel ourselves sinking into confusion, of course we feel frightened. Suddenly, there is no ground to stand on. Solutions that worked no longer do. The world appears incomprehensible, chaotic, lacking rationality. We respond to this incoherence by applying old solutions more frantically. We become more rigid about our beliefs. We rely on habit rather than creating new responses. We end up feeling frustrated, exhausted and powerless in the face of so much failure. These frustrations and fears create more aggression. We try to make things work by using brute force rather than intelligence and collaboration.
It was only when scientists were willing to accept their confusion instead of fleeing from it and only when they changed the questions they were asking, only then could they discover the insights and formulations that gave them great new capacity. Once this new worldview came into focus, scientists reengaged with their work with new energy. Wonder, curiosity, and the delight of discovery replaced their fatigue and frustration. I am hopeful that we too can regain our energy and delight by looking at the world of organizations through their worldview. I believe their maps are reliable guides to lands of promise, where human creativity, wisdom and courage can be fully engaged in creating healthy and enduring organizations and societies.
You will find maps of many varieties in this book. Some describe specific new science findings in enough detail that, hopefully, you understand their terrain. Others point out less explored places that need further inquiry. Still others are very detailed, drawing deliberate connections between science and organizational life. And finally, there are records of my personal journey, what I felt and experienced as I brought back questions and insights and applied them in my own work.
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