Book Study Group
Who Do We Choose to Be:
Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity
(second edition)
by Margaret J. Wheatley
October - November, 2023
5 Book Study sessions:
Tuesday, October 3 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, October 17 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, October 31 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, November 14 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, November 28 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Plus an Author Event with Margaret Wheatley
Tuesday, October 24 • 7:00-8:30 pm Eastern
Note: Registration for the Book Study Group includes admission to the author event.
Learn more
Registration is closed.
Note: We will be reading and discussing the second edition of this book, published in June 2023. Please be sure you have a copy of this edition.
“Sane leadership is the commitment to create the conditions for the finest human capacities — generosity, creativity, kindness — to blossom, protected from the external environment. It is the deep knowing that, even in the most dire circumstances, more becomes possible as people engage together with compassion and discernment, self-determining their best way forward.”
— Margaret Wheatley, Who Do We Choose To Be?
What does it mean to practice meaningful leadership in a moment where everything is shifting under our feet?
In a world dominated by news of record heat waves, ecological collapse, and threats to our democracy, it can be hard knowing what good leadership looks like when the ultimate outcome no longer seems assured. What does it mean to lead groups of people well in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges? What does it mean to practice hope when we have no guarantees that everything will turn out all right? Where should we place our trust when our most non-negotiable “givens” suddenly seem up for grabs?
In Who Do We Choose To Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity, iconic author and organizational consultant Margaret Wheatley heads unerringly into the face of these questions to suggest that the work of us for these days is to name reality, claim leadership, and restore sanity.
Through our five-session book study, we’ll explore together what this looks like in our own contexts. We’ll practice facing honestly into difficult truths and naming hard realities. We’ll learn to cultivate a sense of hope and empowerment in a time that seems to call for disempowering denial or equally disempowering despair. We’ll engage in spiritual practice and discernment as a way to inhabit grounded identities as leaders. We’ll learn practical skills for leading in turbulent times — all within the context of supportive community.
Come join us to explore who you want to be as a leader in a climate-changed world.
(Important note: We will be reading and discussing the second edition of this book, published in June 2023.)
Schedule
5 Book Study sessions:
Tuesday, October 3 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, October 17 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, October 31 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, November 14 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Tuesday, November 28 • 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
Plus an Author Event with Margaret Wheatley
Tuesday, October 24 • 7:00-8:30 pm Eastern
Note: Registration for the Book Study Group includes admission to the author event.
Learn more
About the Book
From author Margaret Wheatley: “This book is born of my desire to summon us to be leaders for this time as things fall apart, to reclaim leadership as a noble profession that creates possibility and humaneness in the midst of increasing fear and turmoil. I know it is possible for leaders to use their power and influence, their insight and compassion, to lead people back to an understanding of who we are as human beings, to create the conditions for our basic human qualities of generosity, contribution, community and love to be evoked no matter what. I know it is possible to experience grace and joy in the midst of tragedy and loss. I know it is possible to create islands of sanity in the midst of wildly disruptive seas. I know it is possible because I have worked with leaders over many years in places that knew chaos and breakdown long before this moment. And I have studied enough history to know that such leaders always arise when they are most needed. Now it's our turn.”
Note: We will be reading and discussing the second edition of this book, published in June 2023.
About the Author
Margaret Wheatley, Ed.D. began caring about the world’s peoples in 1966 as a Peace Corps volunteer in post-war Korea. As a consultant, senior-level advisor, teacher, speaker, and formal leader, she has worked on all continents (except Antarctica) with all levels, ages, and types of organizations, leaders, and activists. Her work now focuses on developing and supporting leaders globally as Warriors for the Human Spirit. These leaders put service over self, stand steadfast through crises and failures, and make a difference for the people and causes they care about. With compassion and insight, they know how to invoke people’s inherent generosity, creativity, kindness, and community — no matter what’s happening around them.
Margaret has written ten books, including the classic Leadership and the New Science, and has been honored for her pathfinding work by many professional associations, universities, and organizations. She received her Doctorate from Harvard University in 1979, an M.A. in Media Ecology from NYU in 1974, and a B.A. from University of Rochester in 1966. She spent a year at University College London 1964-65. Her website is designed as a library of free resources as well as information about products and her speaking calendar: www.margaretwheatley.com
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