“Where Have All the Leaders Gone?”: An Interview With Margaret J. Wheatley on Life-Affirming Leadership
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Journal of Management Inquiry
Volume
14
Issue
1
Publisher
Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication Date
3-1-2005
First Page
71
Last Page
77
Abstract
Margaret J. Wheatley's (1992) Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World offered a practical and hopeful perspective of leaders in a chaotic world. Excerpts of interviews with Wheatley in 2003 and 2004 are presented. The monolithic, one-size-fits-all theory of leadership that is a result of globalization and the primacy of the American management model must be broken. It doesn't work anywhere, it doesn't work in the US. Emergence is a self-organizing process for taking local actions to achieve global impact. In nature, change never happens as a result of top-down, preconceived strategic plans or from the mandate of any single individual or boss. Change begins as local actions spring to life simultaneously around the system. She has seen firsthand a number of young leaders who are working in the most difficult parts of the world pioneering new forms of leadership in places like Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Croatia.
Recommended Citation
Madsen, S. R. & Hammond, S. (2005). Where have all the leaders gone? An interview with Margaret J. Wheatley about life-affirming leadership. Journal of Management Inquiry, 14(1), 71-77.
