“It’s comforting to remember that perseverance is the story of humankind. We all come from ancestors who persevered. We wouldn’t be here without them. It’s our turn now.”
Meg Wheatley is interviewed in Booz & Company’s “strategy + business” newsletter this month: “The Thought Leader Interview: Meg Wheatley.” The Harvard PhD is a management consultant who studies organizational behavior. She has authored several books including her most recent titles Finding our Way: Leadership For An Uncertain Time and Perseverance. She first frames the current environment: high levels of fear and anxiety; everyone working harder with less; the increasing pressure to produce better results with fewer resources; weaker results leading to stricter financial controls; all leading to a more restrictive, fear-based and controlling environment which results in a “death spiral.” She recommends that leaders need to: acknowledge that they don’t have the answers; engage their community to derive solutions to complex problems to get perspectives from all parts of the system; think more deeply about the choices that they have made and the choices that they will make; think deeply about what you and the firm stand for; then have the personal discipline and perseverance to execute on the choices that have been made. I encourage leaders to read the interview in its entirety – it’s long but worthy – her thoughts and insights are very timely. I’ve added a number of Wheatley’s insights below:
Continue reading “Sit down and be quiet. You are drunk, and this is the edge of the roof.”
