The Courage to Think Together: An Interview with Margaret Wheatley
by Kali Saposnick

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As we watch some of our large global systems—economic, political, religious—fall into crisis, many of us feel deeply disturbed, wondering what we can do to prevent further disasters. To uncover solutions to ensure our planet's long-term viability, living-systems theorist Meg Wheatley urges us to call upon our greatest human gift—the ability to think critically together. Author of the newly released Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, Meg has focused her recent work on cultivating change through collaborative reflection."How can we possibly survive without using that skill?" she asks. "We keep running faster, hoping we'll get lucky and become smarter, but what's really happening is, at all levels, we're just creating more disasters: change initiatives that don't work, people that get hurt, environmental consequences that keep showing up."

According to Wheatley, "Learning from what we're doing is the only way to avert that level of failure." But how often do we take the time to reflect on and learn from our actions? She asks, "When do we sit with colleagues and inquire into why something failed or succeeded, why a customer got angry with us, or why we keep firing people when they make mistakes?" Focused on the task at hand that we must get done, few of us pay attention to how our actions affect other parts of the system. "Instead of making us more productive, speeding up has only made us more blind to our actions," says Meg. "But you can't operate at this level of power and this level of interconnectedness and do it blindly. It's a suicide course."

Taking the Time to Talk
What people need, according to Wheatley, is the courage to slow down and start conversations with each other. "Conversation is the natural way in which humans have always thought together—before we had all these sophisticated planning and statistical analysis processes. Especially when we reflect with colleagues from different areas of the business or organization, we start to see the system again. We also become more observant about the longer-range impact of our decisions and stop responding with knee-jerk solutions."

Developing deeper critical thinking skills around business problems can help us become better thinkers in all aspects of our lives. We might start to notice things that trouble us in our community or in our children's school. We might begin to understand why a product didn't work in a new market or what impact globalization has on other parts of the world. We might even stop accepting casual comments as facts, raising the level of rigor in our discourse.

Reflecting together also allows us to become more aware of each other's actions and intentions. "We assume we know each other," says Meg, "and then when somebody says, 'You're pigeonholing me,' we get angry at them instead of reflecting, 'Oh, is there more to you?'" In many organizations, people increasingly use stereotypical language as a substitute for truly understanding their colleagues. Wheatley explains, "With little opportunity to get to know each other, we look for labels, such as your Myers-Briggs type, your astronomical sign, or your leadership style. But what do those things really tell you about me?"

To make deeper connections with each other, we need "to be willing to be disturbed." True collaboration and creativity emerge when we admit we're confused and approach an issue together with curiosity, not certainty. "Many cultures have rituals to take you into the darkness and open yourself," says Meg. "Some traditions talk about dark nights of the soul and consider chaos a part of life. But in America, for example, we expect everything to be good all of the time. If it's not, there's something wrong with us. Rather than dwelling in uncertainty or mystery, we want to be in control."

To help people relinquish some of that control, Meg often asks a group that is beginning a conversation process "to listen for the differences, for what's going to surprise you, for what you didn't expect to hear." This technique keeps our attention on the other person. Instead of immediately discounting something or forming rebuttals, we relax and allow our curiosity to emerge. As a result, we start to come alive and talk about what truly matters to us.

Making Conversation Accessible to All
Turning to One Another reflects not only a deepening of the author's thinking about human connection and creativity, but a shift in her writing style. After working in many countries with young people who have experienced dictatorships, corruption, and sometimes the assassination of their parents and who are trying their best to survive and grow as individuals, Meg wanted her book to be accessible to everybody. Geared for ages 16 and up, it is written simply and with no jargon, so that people for whom English is a second or third language can read it. "I hope the book starts conversations among people who never talk to one another," she comments. "I've found that the easiest way to develop systems thinkers is to have many different voices in the room. Especially when people from one culture realize their problem is similar to that of another culture, you know the problem is not particular to you anymore; it's systemic. That's when real learning begins to happen."

Kali Saposnick is publications editor at Pegasus Communications, Inc.