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"Relationship is all there is. Everything in the universe only
exists because it is in relationships to
everything else." (p23)
"Free from the roles and routines that conceal the most of who we
are."
"Grace filled moments of greeting."
"It’s often difficult to extend ourselves, to let
down our guard… strangely what we say is not that important. We have ended
the silence that keeps us apart." (p161)
"Conversations only take place among equals…Those who act superior
can’t help but react others as objects to accomplish their causes and
plans. When we see each other as equals, we stop misusing them." (p163)
"My sense of self expands --- I’m no longer locked inside a small
self. I don’t feel alone or isolated. I feel here. I feel welcomed." (p137)
"Staying curious about each other"
"It’s not our differences that divide us. It’s our judgments about
each other that do."
"We don’t have to agree with each other in order to think together."
(p213)
"Listen for what
surprises you, rather than for what you agree with." (p212)
"All organisms have a need to connect and create"
"When we serve others, we gain more than hope. We gain energy.
People who volunteer for a community or service project often arrive
straight from work, exhausted. But after several hours of meaningful
volunteer work, they go home energized." (p131)
"A self that fails to create itself as a contribution is irrelevant
in a systems-seeking world… if our self-expression is not meaningful to
others, we will not survive." (p52)
"When we’re brave enough to risk a conversation, we have the chance
to rediscover what it means to be human." (p162)
"Human creativity and commitment are our greatest resources"
"Anytime when making a decision ask yourself “Is this decision going
to bring people together? Will it weave a stronger web?… In what I am
about to do, am I turning toward others or turning away?”
"The simplest way to discover what’s meaningful is to notice what
people talk about and where they spend their energy." (p77)
"It helps to put ideas, proposals, and issues on the table as
experiments to see what’s meaningful to people rather than as
recommendations for what should be meaningful to them." (p77)
"No one can create sufficient stability and equilibrium for people
to feel secure and safe. Instead as leaders we must help people move into
a relationship with uncertainty and chaos." (p126)
"Instead of fleeing from the fearful place of chaos or trying to
rescue people from it, leaders can help people stay with the chaos, help
them walk through it together, and look for the new insights and
capacities that always emerge." (p127)
"The conditions of freedom and connectedness are kept vibrant by
focusing on what’s going on in the heart of the community rather than
being fixated on the forms and rules of the community." (p50)
"What called us together? What did we believe was possible together
that was not possible alone? If we stay with these questions and don’t try
to structure relationships through policies and doctrines, we can create
communities that thrive in the paradox (of freedom and community)." (p50)
"Most of us were raised in a culture that told us that the way to
manage for excellence was to tell people exactly what they had to do and
then make sure they did it. But you can’t direct people into excellence:
you can only engage them enough so that they want to do excellent work."
"The primary task of being a leader is to make sure that the organization knows itself… A good
leader supports a continuous conversation about organizational identity and how it is changing as it does its work in a changing world." (p69)
"People do not need the intricate directions, timelines and organization charts that are assumed to be necessary. These are not how people accomplish good work; they are what impede contributions. But people need a great deal from their leaders. They need information, access to one another, resources, trust and follow through—all while helping everyone stay clear on what we agreed we wanted to accomplish and who we wanted to be (p70).
"When we’re so overwhelmed with tasks that we have no time to reflect, it is very important that the leader create time for people to remember why they’re doing this work. Who are we serving by doing this work?" (p128)
"Just 3 Rules – take care of yourself, take care of each other, take
care of this place" (p51)
organization and agree to belong, we are called to new ways of living."
