In a learning organization, leaders are designers, stewards, and teachers. They are responsible for building organizations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models – that is, they are responsible for learning.
When executives lead as teachers, stewards, and designers, they fill roles that are much more subtle and long-term than those of power-wielding hierarchical leaders.
Leadership is about creating new realities.
Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing ‘patterns of change’ rather than static ‘snapshots.’
Over the long run, superior performance depends on superior learning.
Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we were never able to do.
Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines.
The further human society drifts away from nature, the less we understand interdependence .
Collaboration is vital to sustain what we call profound or really deep change, because without it, organizations are just overwhelmed by the forces of the status quo.
Personal mastery teaches us to choose. Choosing is a courageous act: picking the results and actions which you will make into your destiny.
The most effective people are those who can “hold” their vision while remaining committed to seeing current reality clearly.
Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life.
When all is said and done, the only change that will make a difference is the transformation of the human heart.
Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.
It takes courage and skill to be unambiguous and clear.
Mastery of creative tension brings out the capacity for perseverance and patience. Time is an ally.
Learning organizations organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.
Many in positions of authority lack the capabilities to truly lead. They are not credible. They do not command genuine respect. They are not committed to serve. They are not continually learning and growing. They are not wise.
The faster we go, the slower we need to be.
Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.