7.12: Outside Conversations with Margaret Wheatley - Cultivating Compassion, Connection, and Resilience in Times of Disruption

In this heartfelt and inspiring episode, Tim and Tuesday sit down with their longtime friend and mentor, Margaret Wheatley, a trailblazer in understanding and navigating systemic collapse and disruption over the past four decades. Margaret, a thought leader and writer, shares insights from her new book of poetry and delves deep into the complexities of leadership, compassion, and community in today’s world. She reflects on her role as a "prophet"—someone who sees the truth, even when it's hard to be believed—and emphasizes the power of turning to each other in times of crisis. With wisdom and clarity, Margaret calls for the creation of "islands of sanity" where compassion and connection can thrive amidst the chaos. This episode is a powerful reminder of the importance of community in an increasingly fragmented world.

About Margaret (Meg) Wheatley

Margaret Wheatley, Ed.D. began caring about the world's peoples in 1966, as a Peace Corps volunteer in post-war Korea. In many different roles--speaker, teacher, consultant, advisor, formal leader--her work has deepened into an unshakable conviction that leaders must learn how to invoke people's inherent generosity, creativity and need for community. As this world tears us apart, sane leadership on behalf of the human spirit is the only way forward. She is co-founder and president of The Berkana Institute, (www.berkana.org), an organizational consultant since 1973, a global citizen since her youth, and a prolific writer. She has authored thirteen books, starting with the classic Leadership and the New Science. She has been honored for her ground-breaking work by many professional associations, universities, and organizations. To keep up with her current work: www.margaretwheatley.com/currentthinking/

Resources

• Learn more about, and follow, The Outside by visiting and liking all of our channels:

  • Website: www.findtheoutside.com 

  • Facebook & Instagram: @findtheoutside   

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/findtheoutside

• Meet Margaret (Meg) Wheatley

  • Margaret Wheatley’s NEW book of Poetry: “Opening to the World as It Is: Poems of Experience.” 

  • Training with Margaret: Warriors for the Human Spirit

• Books that Margaret named on the podcast:

  • "WHO DO WE CHOOSE TO BE? Facing Reality | Claiming Leadership | Restoring Sanity," by Margaret Wheatley

  • "RESTORING SANITY: Practices to Awaken Generosity, Creativity & Kindness In Ourselves and Our Organizations," by Margaret Wheatley

  • “PERSEVERANCE,” by Margaret Wheatley

  • “TURNING TO ONE ANOTHER: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future,” by Margaret Wheatley 

  • “The Tears of Things,” by Richard Rorh

  • “We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth,” Edited by Dahr Jamail & Stan Rushworth 

• Joanna Macy - “The Great Turning” 

• Art of Hosting

• Mahone Bay United

Opening to the World as It Is 

Air fills with song of bird and breeze this day

cheerful comfort to hold my grief for the world

just as it should be

this world speaks in unending innumerable voices

I write poems to let the world know I'm paying attention

I write poems when words fail me

when I have no choice

but to take the time and

feel the care to find precise expression

I write poems when the world assaults me with its paradoxes

I write poems about the gifts I receive from presence

I trust my voice has purpose

when the world speaks to me so vividly

it would be sheer cowardice to refuse to give voice

staying present is a responsibility I accept

call and response