Margaret Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. Third Edition. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006.
Referenced in: Leadership and New Science
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is one of a growing number of texts on Leadership and the New Science. I recommend this as an advanced level reading, alongside others that are listed in the Ministry Resource Guide on the subject.
Wheatley is regarded as a standard author on how the new findings of quantum physics bear upon organizational leadership. Leadership and the New Science is heavy reading, and probably not the first consult for church leaders who are unfamiliar with the concepts. Once one grasps the essential concepts, however, this work is fascinating.
In Leadership and the New Science, Wheatley discusses how the new science is radically reshaping how we understand the physical world. There is a growing recognition of the deep interconnectedness and interrelatedness of living systems. She says leadership must be able to let go of the need to control people and results, and choose rather to “dance” with the changes that occur in an organization that result from rhythm of relationships. If people are freed to interact in this way, their evolving relationship results in a self-organized effectiveness that no leader could anticipate or plan for.
The problem is when leaders try to control too much. She says,
When leaders strive for equilibrium and stability by imposing control, constricting people’s freedom and inhibiting local change, they only create the conditions that threaten the organization’s survival.(89)
This should not be mistaken as a laissez-faire approach, but it does call for more comfort with ambiguity and freedom. Leaders simply clarify the values of the organization, which become the principles that guide the people’s self-organization, just like in the physical world. She says:
When chaos has banged down the door and is tossing us around the room, it is difficult to believe that clear principles are sufficient. But if we can trust the workings of the world, we will see that the strength of our organizations is maintained if we retain clarity about the purpose and direction of the organization. When things become chaotic, this clarity keeps us on course. (139)
She also describes the role of the leader in such an environment, suggesting that we need leaders, but not bosses:
We need leaders to help us develop the clear identity that lights the dark moments of confusion. We need leaders to support us as we learn how to live by our values. We need leaders to understand that are best controlled by concepts that invite our participation, not policies and procedures that curtail our contribution. (139)
She continues:
The leader’s first task is to embody these principles, and then to help the organization become the standard it has declared for itself. This work of leaders cannot be reversed, or either step ignored. (144)
There is much to commend about this view of leadership. It is hard to deny what it says about the evolving nature of organizations, their ability to self-organize, and how they are held together by an unseen surrounding field of relational interdependence and mutual commitment to values. On the other hand, it fails to designate where the values should be found, and may have a view of people that fails to take the biblical view of sin and human nature into account.
From the Publisher
Leadership and the New Science launched a revolution by demonstrating that ideas drawn from quantum physics, chaos theory, and molecular biology could improve organizational performance. Margaret Wheatley called for free-flowing information, individual empowerment, relationship networks, and organizational change that evolves organically — ideas that have become commonplace. Now Wheatley’s updated classic, based on her experiences with these ideas in a diverse number of organizations on five continents, is available in paperback.
From the Back Cover
IN HER PIONEERING BESTSELLER Leadership and the New Science, Margaret Wheatley showed how the “New Science” – revolutionary discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory, and biology that are overturning centuries-old images of the universe – provides powerful insights into the design, leadership, and management of organizations. Now, in a completely revised and expanded edition, Wheatley uses her past seven years’ experience putting these ideas to use in a wide array of organizations all over the world to shed new light on issues crucial to organizing work, people, and life, including:
- How do systems move from chaos to order?
- How is order different from control?
- How can we reconcile individual autonomy and organizational order?
- How can we create more participative, open, and adaptive organizations?
- What are the keys to organizational growth, learning, and communication?
This revised edition is written in even more accessible language and adds an entirely new chapter to this now classic book. In “Change—The Capacity of Life,” Wheatley explains how the new physics offers an entirely new understanding of change, in which change happens at the level of identity rather than by isolating and changing one defective part of ourselves or our organizations.
In a new epilogue, Wheatley adds a personal chronicle of her experiences since the publication of the first edition. She tells about the shift in her own understanding that occurred as she came to realize that Leadership and the New Science not only presents an alternative view of organizational dynamics but challenges people’s most fundamental beliefs about the way the world works.
Like the first edition, the book includes a special section of color photographs of beautiful patterns and processes – including fractals, strange attractors, and chemical clocks – that take readers on a mind-opening journey into the heart of the new science.
About the Author
Margaret Wheatley is president of The Berkana Institute and an internationally acclaimed speaker and writer. She has been an organizational consultant and researcher since 1973. Her clients and audiences range from the head of the U.S. Army to twelve-year-old Girl Scouts, from CEOs to small town ministers.
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