4 Quotes by Brian J. Robertson

There is no freedom without discipline, no vision without a form.

Sometimes the conflicts we have in organizational life are actually clashes of the roles involved, but we mistake them for clashes between the people filling those roles.

Holacracy obsoletes the habit of making commitments about when you will deliver a particular project or action. In tactical meetings, for example, we capture next-actions, but do not attach deadline commitments to them. Why? As much as the practice of setting deadlines is generally recommended in today’s business world, allow me to offer a contrary view: committing to deadlines has important downsides, and using them obscures a more dynamic, reality-based approach.

Consensus didn’t accomplish that. In fact, all it resulted in was long painful meetings where we would try to force everyone to see things the same way. That isn’t helpful or healthy, and it only gets worse as an organization grows.