6 Jun 2006
Margaret Wheatley – Bringing Chaos to Dartington… (in a manner of speaking)
**Margaret (or Meg) Wheatley** is a consultant and speaker, who has worked on management issues with a wide range of companies, governments and agencies in all continents. She is author of, among others, [Leadership and the New Science](http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=1576751198&PG=1&Type=BL&PCS=BKP”LNS”), [A Simpler Way](http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=1881052958&PG=1&Type=BL&PCS=BKP”Simpler”) and most recently [Finding our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time](http://www.margaretwheatley.com/findingourway.html”FOW”). She is one of the leading thinkers on how complexity theory and new insights from science can relate to change, both at the organisational level and the societal level. Her insights and writings have much to contribute to Energy Descent Planning and to relocalisation initiatives, and I am fortunate enough that she is at [Schumacher College](http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk”Schumacher”) next week, and will be giving a public talk and has also agreed to meet me for an interview.
This is a real honour, and we will be discussing issues around peak oil, energy descent planning, and how complexity theory can inform relocalisation initiatives. So, in preparation for that, I’d like to invite you, **TransitionCulture** readers, to send in a question you would like to see put to Margaret Wheatley. I’ll do my best to work them into my list of questions, but do keep them topical (“is Wayne Rooney going to make the England squad?” and “what did you think of the movie of the Da Vinci Code?” for example stand little chance…).
Her course at Schumacher College from June 11th – 16th is full, but there is an opportunity to see her giving a public talk at the Barn Cinema at Dartington on Wednesday 14th June at 6:00pm. Her talk is one of a series of Arts and Ecology Lectures organised by [Dartington Arts](http://www.dartingtonarts.org.uk/”DA”) and is called “The Power of Chaos” and tickets are on sale priced £6.00. The publicity for the talk is as follows;
>When you switch to thinking about organisations as complex living systems, you get to see a lot of processes that could work on your behalf, as a leader. We can take our management metaphor, not from machines, but from the ways living systems organise and re-organise and manage themselves.�
>New discoveries in biology, chaos theory and quantum physics can radically alter our understanding of the world and teach us how to live and work together in chaotic times. Meg Wheatley will talk about how these insights can lead to new forms of organisation where relationships, participation and co-operation are fundamental, and will look at the implications for management, business, leadership and personal life.
I’d recommend her book [Leadership and the New Science - Finding Order in a Chaotic World](http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=1576750558&PG=1&Type=BL&PCS=BKP”LEadership”) and her paper [Bringing Life to Organizational Change](http://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/life.html”Bringing Life”). You will find a wealth of articles on [her website](http://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles”Wheatley).