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While no one has total control over his or her life, most people have more control than they exert.

Right now we are in a period of flux. Speeding up, seemingly out of control, we will solve the problems we face once we put our heads together.

…economic systems – the products of complex knots of human factors – confound linear attempts at prediction and control.

Attempts to control complex systems by using the kind of mechanical, predestinationist thinking… breaking everything down into component parts, or optimizing individual elements, tend to be pointless at best or destructive at worst.

…most organizations are more concerned with how best to control information than how best to share it.

…when they can see what’s going on, leaders understandably want to control what’s going on.

The role of the senior leader [is] no longer that of controlling puppet master, but rather than of an empathetic crafter of culture.

Even the most successful of today’s heroic leaders appear uneasy in the saddle, all too aware that their ability to understand and control is a chimera. We have to begin leading differently.

…this future will take the form of organic networks, resilience engineering, controlled flooding – a world without stop signs.

…limited duration exploits our sense of freedom: we need to be in control. Not taking action now means losing freedom to take action later.