"Yet we act as if simple cause and effect is at work. We push to find the one simple reason things have gone wrong. We look for the one action, or the one person, that created this mess. As soon as we find someone to blame, we act as if we've solved the problem"
About this Quote
Wheatley is taking a scalpel to one of our most comforting habits: treating complexity like a whodunit. The rhythm of her lines mimics the mental sprint we all recognize in institutions under stress - locate the culprit, name the “root cause,” declare closure. It’s not just a critique of bad thinking; it’s a critique of the emotional economy behind that thinking. Simple cause-and-effect isn’t merely mistaken here, it’s soothing. It turns anxiety into a task list.
The intent is managerial and moral at once. Wheatley has spent decades writing about organizations as living systems, where outcomes emerge from networks, feedback loops, incentives, and unintended consequences. In that frame, the hunt for “the one person” is not analysis but theater: it performs control. The subtext is bluntly political. Blame narrows the story until it fits a press release, a board memo, a news cycle. It protects the broader system from scrutiny because systems can’t be fired, shamed, or perp-walked.
Her sharpest move is the last clause: “we act as if we’ve solved the problem.” She’s naming the psychological substitution that passes for change - accountability as a stand-in for understanding. You can feel the scene: a crisis meeting, a scapegoat offered, the room exhaling. The quote doesn’t argue against responsibility; it argues against the lazy relief of thinking responsibility equals resolution.
In a culture that rewards certainty and speed, Wheatley is insisting on a slower courage: to admit messes are usually co-authored, structurally produced, and not fixable by punishment alone.
The intent is managerial and moral at once. Wheatley has spent decades writing about organizations as living systems, where outcomes emerge from networks, feedback loops, incentives, and unintended consequences. In that frame, the hunt for “the one person” is not analysis but theater: it performs control. The subtext is bluntly political. Blame narrows the story until it fits a press release, a board memo, a news cycle. It protects the broader system from scrutiny because systems can’t be fired, shamed, or perp-walked.
Her sharpest move is the last clause: “we act as if we’ve solved the problem.” She’s naming the psychological substitution that passes for change - accountability as a stand-in for understanding. You can feel the scene: a crisis meeting, a scapegoat offered, the room exhaling. The quote doesn’t argue against responsibility; it argues against the lazy relief of thinking responsibility equals resolution.
In a culture that rewards certainty and speed, Wheatley is insisting on a slower courage: to admit messes are usually co-authored, structurally produced, and not fixable by punishment alone.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
|---|
More Quotes by Margaret
Add to List
