--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If the foreman had no experience in…" description: "\"“If the foreman had no experience in bossing a mob, they had no experience in being one. Members of a community, not elements of a collectivity, they w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/041/ursula-k-le-guin-138_collectivity_if-the-foreman-had-no-experience-in-boss_1155756.jpg" --- # If the foreman had no experience in bossing a mob, they… ![“If the foreman had no experience in bossing a mob, they had no experience in being one. Members of a community, not elements of a collectivity, they were not moved by mass feeling; there were as many emotions there as there were people. And they did not expect commands to be arbitrary, so they had…” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/041/ursula-k-le-guin-138_collectivity_if-the-foreman-had-no-experience-in-boss_1155756.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/041/ursula-k-le-guin-138_collectivity_if-the-foreman-had-no-experience-in-boss_1155756.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/041/ursula-k-le-guin-138_collectivity_if-the-foreman-had-no-experience-in-boss_1155756.jpg) > ““If the foreman had no experience in bossing a mob, they had no experience in being one. Members of a community, not elements of a collectivity, they were not moved by mass feeling; there were as many emotions there as there were people. And they did not expect commands to be arbitrary, so they had no practice in disobeying them. Their inexperience saved the passenger's life.”” [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A leader lacking experience in commanding a group cannot effectively control them, and their inexperience can unintentionally protect others. **In simple terms:** Inexperienced leaders may fail to dominate, sometimes saving lives. Key Takeaway Recognize the limits of authority. Themes leadership authority group dynamics Mood critical reflective Type cautionary analytical When to use this quote - military command - team management - emergency response - political leadership Key Concepts power dynamics experience obedience Questions to Reflect On - How does inexperience affect decision‑making? - When can lack of authority be beneficial? A Different Perspective Authority without experience can lead to chaos or unintended safety. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Collectivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectivity/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Foreman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foreman/) ## Related quotes > [We have power... Our power isn’t in a political system, or a religious system, or in an economic system, or in a military system;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-trudell/we-have-power-our-power-isn-t-in-a-political-system-or-a-religious/) [John Trudell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-trudell/) > [Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/regardless-of-the-staggering-dimensions-of-the-world-about-us-the/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [If men want to oppose war, it is statism that they must oppose. So long as they hold the tribal notion that the individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/if-men-want-to-oppose-war-it-is-statism-that-they-must-oppose-so-long/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [We have reached the end of problem solving as a mode of inquiry capable of inspiring, mobilizing, and sustaining human system change. The future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cooperrider/we-have-reached-the-end-of-problem-solving-as-a-mode-of-inquiry/) [David Cooperrider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cooperrider/) > [ \[Pragmatism's\] only test of probable truth is what works best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/pragmatism-s-only-test-of-probable-truth-is-what-works-best-in-the/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [All the qualities of a man acquire dignity when he knows that the service of the collectivity that owns him needs them. If proud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/all-the-qualities-of-a-man-acquire-dignity-when-he-knows-that-the/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The psychedelic inner astronaut sees things which no human being has ever seen before, and no other human being will ever see again. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-psychedelic-inner-astronaut-sees-things-which-no-human-being-has/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [One can say that the city itself is the collective memory of its people, and like memory it is associated with objects and places.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldo-rossi/one-can-say-that-the-city-itself-is-the-collective-memory-of-its/) Aldo Rossi > [Every civilization must contend with an unconscious force which can block, betray, or countermand almost any conscious intention of the collectivity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/every-civilization-must-contend-with-an-unconscious-force-which-can/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [There's a thin line between collectivity and chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/there-s-a-thin-line-between-collectivity-and-chaos/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [“Any judgment born of collective agreement is, by nature, arbitrary, no matter how widely it is accepted.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sov8840/any-judgment-born-of-collective-agreement-is-by-nature-arbitrary-no/) Sov8840 > [Meditating together is the best way to feel the collectivity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/meditating-together-is-the-best-way-to-feel-the-collectivity/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [The people themselves are not a homogeneous cultural collectivity but present numerous and variously combined cultural stratifications which, in their pure form, cannot always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-gramsci/the-people-themselves-are-not-a-homogeneous-cultural-collectivity-but/) [Antonio Gramsci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-gramsci/) > [How many times have I wondered if it is really possible to forge links with a mass of people when one has never had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-gramsci/how-many-times-have-i-wondered-if-it-is-really-possible-to-forge/) [Antonio Gramsci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-gramsci/) > [Every war, every revolution, demands the sacrifice of a generation, of a collectivity, by those who undertake it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/every-war-every-revolution-demands-the-sacrifice-of-a-generation-of-a/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) ## More by Ursula K. Le Guin > [“...I wore his blood for clothing, on my legs and thighs and hands: a dry, stiff, brown garment with no warmth in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-wore-his-blood-for-clothing-on-my-legs-and-thighs-and-hands-a-dry/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/translation-is-entirely-mysterious-increasingly-i-have-felt-that-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Aeneas' mother is a star?" "No; a goddess." I said cautiously, "Venus is the power that we invoke in spring, in the garden, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/aeneas-mother-is-a-star-no-a-goddess-i-said-cautiously-venus-is-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Meaning - this is perhaps the common note, the bane I am seeking. What is the Meaning of this book, this event in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/meaning-this-is-perhaps-the-common-note-the-bane-i-am-seeking-what-is/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/for-fantasy-is-true-of-course-it-isn-t-factual-but-it-is-true/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“. . . chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/chronosophy-does-involve-ethics-because-our-sense-of-time-involves/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“If both you and your plane are on time, the airport is merely a diffuse, short, miserable prelude to the intense, long, miserable plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/if-both-you-and-your-plane-are-on-time-the-airport-is-merely-a/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“The author is not impartial. Dystopia is not tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-author-is-not-impartial-dystopia-is-not-tragedy/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/between-thought-and-spoken-word-is-a-gap-where-intention-can-enter/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I have no control over my writing. I have lots of good intentions, but no control. There's a story that wants to be told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-no-control-over-my-writing-i-have-lots-of-good-intentions-but/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I did a lot today. That is, I did something. The only thing I have ever done. I pressed a button. It took the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-did-a-lot-today-that-is-i-did-something-the-only-thing-i-have-ever/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Hector had no virtue?” “Of course he did. He won all his battles, till the last one.” “We all do,” Aeneas remarked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/hector-had-no-virtue-of-course-he-did-he-won-all-his-battles-till-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I was willing to believe him that most modern writing was trash, on the evidence that so much old writing was trash; but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-was-willing-to-believe-him-that-most-modern-writing-was-trash-on/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Can women operate as women in a male institution without becoming imitation men?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/can-women-operate-as-women-in-a-male-institution-without-becoming/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) [Explore all 1,114 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## More Collectivity quotes > [We have power... Our power isn’t in a political system, or a religious system, or in an economic system, or in a military system;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-trudell/we-have-power-our-power-isn-t-in-a-political-system-or-a-religious/) [John Trudell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-trudell/) > [How many times have I wondered if it is really possible to forge links with a mass of people when one has never had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-gramsci/how-many-times-have-i-wondered-if-it-is-really-possible-to-forge/) [Antonio Gramsci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-gramsci/) > [The people themselves are not a homogeneous cultural collectivity but present numerous and variously combined cultural stratifications which, in their pure form, cannot always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-gramsci/the-people-themselves-are-not-a-homogeneous-cultural-collectivity-but/) [Antonio Gramsci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-gramsci/) > [Meditating together is the best way to feel the collectivity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/meditating-together-is-the-best-way-to-feel-the-collectivity/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [“Any judgment born of collective agreement is, by nature, arbitrary, no matter how widely it is accepted.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sov8840/any-judgment-born-of-collective-agreement-is-by-nature-arbitrary-no/) Sov8840 > [There's a thin line between collectivity and chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/there-s-a-thin-line-between-collectivity-and-chaos/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [Every civilization must contend with an unconscious force which can block, betray, or countermand almost any conscious intention of the collectivity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/every-civilization-must-contend-with-an-unconscious-force-which-can/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [One can say that the city itself is the collective memory of its people, and like memory it is associated with objects and places.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldo-rossi/one-can-say-that-the-city-itself-is-the-collective-memory-of-its/) Aldo Rossi > [The psychedelic inner astronaut sees things which no human being has ever seen before, and no other human being will ever see again. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/the-psychedelic-inner-astronaut-sees-things-which-no-human-being-has/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [All the qualities of a man acquire dignity when he knows that the service of the collectivity that owns him needs them. If proud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/all-the-qualities-of-a-man-acquire-dignity-when-he-knows-that-the/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [ \[Pragmatism's\] only test of probable truth is what works best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/pragmatism-s-only-test-of-probable-truth-is-what-works-best-in-the/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We have reached the end of problem solving as a mode of inquiry capable of inspiring, mobilizing, and sustaining human system change. The future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cooperrider/we-have-reached-the-end-of-problem-solving-as-a-mode-of-inquiry/) [David Cooperrider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cooperrider/) > [If men want to oppose war, it is statism that they must oppose. So long as they hold the tribal notion that the individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/if-men-want-to-oppose-war-it-is-statism-that-they-must-oppose-so-long/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Regardless of the staggering dimensions of the world about us, the density of our ignorance, the risks of catastrophes to come, and our individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/regardless-of-the-staggering-dimensions-of-the-world-about-us-the/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Every war, every revolution, demands the sacrifice of a generation, of a collectivity, by those who undertake it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/every-war-every-revolution-demands-the-sacrifice-of-a-generation-of-a/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Browse all 29 Collectivity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectivity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If the foreman had no experience in bossing a mob, they had no experience in being one. 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