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Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges by C. Otto Scharmer, 2007
In this ground-breaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways. Fundamental problems, as Einstein once noted, cannot be solved at the same level of thought that created them. What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention - both individually and collectively - is key to what we create. What often prevents us from "attending" is what Scharmer calls our "blind spot," the inner place from which each of us operates. Learning to become aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business and society today.
First introduced in Presence, the "U" methodology of leading profound change is expanded and deepened in Theory U. By moving through the "U" process we learn to connect to our essential Self in the realm of presencing - a term coined by Scharmer that combines the present with sensing. Here we are able to see our own blind spot and pay attention in a way that allows us to experience the opening of our minds, our hearts, and our wills. This wholistic opening constitutes a shift in awareness that allows us to learn from the future as it emerges, and to realize that future in the world.
Theory U explores a new territory of scientific research and personal leadership, one that is grounded in real life experience and shared practices. Scharmer shares much from his own personal and professional development, and draws from a rich diversity of compelling stories and examples. Readers will find themselves drawn to new ways of thinking and acting as they read, completing a parallel journey of exploration and discovery. The final chapters lay out principles and practices that allow everyone to participate fully in co-creating and bringing forth the desired future that is working to emerge through us.
Reviews | About the Author | Excerpts
Related Event: Theory U, Leading from the Future as it Emerges Group Study Book October 1, 2008
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society by Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers, 2004
Presence is an intimate look at the development of a new theory about change and learning. In wide-ranging conversations held over a year and a half, organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers explored the nature of transformational change—how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. The book introduces the idea of “presence"—a concept borrowed from the natural world that the whole is entirely present in any of its parts—to the worlds of business, education, government, and leadership. Too often, the authors found, we remain stuck in old patterns of seeing and acting. By encouraging deeper levels of learning, we create an awareness of the larger whole, leading to actions that can help to shape its evolution and our future.
Drawing on the wisdom and experience of 150 scientists, social leaders, and entrepreneurs, including Brian Arthur, Rupert Sheldrake, Buckminster Fuller, Lao Tzu, and Carl Jung, Presence is both revolutionary in its exploration and hopeful in its message. This astonishing and completely original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense, and realize new possibilities—in ourselves, in our institutions and organizations, and in society itself.
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Addressing the Blind Spot of Our Time
an executive summary of the new book by Otto Scharmer: Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges
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Summary Overview
Using his experience working with some of the world's most accomplished leaders and innovators, Otto Scharmer shows in Theory U how groups and organizations can develop seven leadership capacities in order to create a future that would not otherwise be possible.
Tapping Our Collective Capacity
We live in a time of massive institutional failure, collectively creating results that nobody wants. Climate change. AIDS. Hunger. Poverty. Violence. Terrorism. Destruction of communities, nature, life — the foundations of our social, economic, ecological, and spiritual well being. This time calls for a new consciousness and a new collective leadership capacity to meet challenges in a more conscious, intentional, and strategic way. The development of such a capacity would allow us to create a future of greater possibilities.
Illuminating the Blind Spot
Why do our attempts to deal with the challenges of our time so often fail? Why are we stuck in so many quagmires today? The cause of our collective failure is that we are blind to the deeper dimension of leadership and transformational change. This "blind spot" exists not only in our collective leadership but also in our everyday social interactions. We are blind to the source dimension from which effective leadership and social action come into being. We know a great deal about what leaders do and how they do it. But we know very little about the inner place, the source from which they operate. And it is this source that "Theory U" attempts to explore.
The U: One Process, Five Movements
When leaders develop the capacity to come near to that source, they experience the future as if it were "wanting to be born" — an experience called "presencing." That experience often carries with it ideas for meeting challenges and for bringing into being an otherwise impossible future. Theory U shows how that capacity for presencing can be developed. Presencing is a journey with five movements: As the diagram illustrates, we move down one side of the U (connecting us to the world that is outside of our institutional bubble) to the bottom of the U (connecting us to the world that emerges from within) and up the other side of the U (bringing forth the new into the world). On that journey, at the bottom of the U, lies an inner gate that requires us to drop everything that isn't essential. This process of letting-go (of our old ego and self) and letting-come (our highest future possibility: our Self) establishes a subtle connection to a deeper source of knowing. The essence of presencing is that these two selves — our current self and our best future Self — meet at the bottom of the U and begin to listen and resonate with each other. Once a group crosses this threshold, nothing remains the same. Individual members and the group as a whole begin to operate with a heightened level of energy and sense of future possibility. Often they then begin to function as an intentional vehicle for an emerging future.
Seven Theory U Leadership Capacities
The journey through the U develops seven essential leadership capacities.
1. Holding the space of listening.
The foundational capacity of the U is listening. Listening to others. Listening to oneself. And listening to what emerges from the collective. Effective listening requires the creation of open space in which others can contribute to the whole.
2. Observing.
The capacity to suspend the "voice of judgment" is key to moving from projection to true observation.
3. Sensing.
The preparation for the experience at the bottom of the U — presencing — requires the tuning of three instruments: the open mind, the open heart, and the open will. This opening process is not passive but an active "sensing" together as a group. While an open heart allows us to see a situation from the whole, the open will enables us to begin to act from the emerging whole.
4. Presencing.
The capacity to connect to the deepest source of self and will allows the future to emerge from the whole rather than from a smaller part or special interest group.
5. Crystalizing.
When a small group of key persons commits itself to the purpose and outcomes of a project, the power of their intention creates an energy field that attracts people, opportunities, and resources that make things happen. This core group functions as a vehicle for the whole to manifest.
6. Prototyping.
Moving down the left side of the U requires the group to open up and deal with the resistance of thought, emotion, and will; moving up the right side requires the integration of thinking, feeling, and will in the context of practical applications and learning by doing.
7. Performing.
A prominent violinist once said that he couldn't simply play his violin in Chartres cathedral; he had to "play" the entire space, what he called the "macro violin," in order to do justice to both the space and the music. Likewise, organizations need to perform at this macro level: they need to convene the right sets of players (frontline people who are connected through the same value chain) and to engage a social technology that allows a multi-stakeholder gathering to shift from debating to co-creating the new.
Theory U Encourages You to Step into the Emerging Future.
Examples of these seven Theory U leadership capacities can be found in a num ber of multi-stakeholder innovations and corporate applications. The Presencing Institute is dedicated to developing these new social technologies by integrating science, consciousness, and profound social change methodologies.
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2009. ELIAS: Creating Platforms for Leading and Innovating on the Scale of the Whole System, Scharmer, C. O., Paper prepared for FOSAD Workshop, Mount Grace Hotel, Magaliesburg.
2009. Field Based Leadership Development, Scharmer, C. O., Paper prepared for Round Table Meeting on Leadership For Development Impact The World Bank, The World Bank Institute, Washington, DC.
2009. The Blind Spot of Economic Thought: Seven Acupuncture Points for Shifting to Capitalism 3.0, Scharmer, C. O., Paper prepared for presentation at the Roundtable on Transforming Capitalism to Create a Regenerative Economy, Cambridge, MA.
2009. Presencing: Die Vergangenheit hinter sich lassen und das Neue erspuren, Von Dr. Claus Otto Scharmer, Business-Wissen.de (German)
2008. Transforming Capitalism: Mapping the Space of Today's Societal Leadership Action. Scharmer, C.O., Paper prepared for presentation at: Presencing Institute Annual Meeting, Cambridge, MA.
2008. Addressing the Blind Spot of Our Time (Japanese)
2008. Fuhrung vor der leeren Leinwand, published in Organisations Entwicklung, Nr. 2, p. 4-11.
2008. Innovations Start Small, Interview with Otto Scharmer English | German
2007. Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership. Scharmer, C.O., Executive Forum: Leader to Leader.
2007. Executive Summary: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (17 pages)
2007. Executive Summary: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (2 pages)
2004. Awakening Faith in an Alternative Future. Senge, P.; Scharmer, C.O.; Jaworski, J.; Flowers, B.S.;
2003. The Blind Spot of Leadership. Presencing as a Social Technology of Freedom. Habilitation Thesis. Introduction.
2003. Breathing Life into a Dying System. Kaeufer, K; Scharmer, C.O.; Versteegen, U.
2002. Presencing: A Social Technology of Freedom. Interview with Dr. Claus Otto Scharmer.
2002. Presencing: Soziale Technologie der Freiheit. Interview mit Dr. Claus Otto Scharmer.
2002. (with Peter Senge) Learning Communities: Toward a Triadic Differentiation of Learning Networks.
In: Heinrich v. Pierer und Bolko von Oetinger (Hrsg.) A Passion for Ideas.A How Innovators Create and Shape Our World, 87-105. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press.
2002. (with W. Brian Arthur, Jonathan Day, Joseph Jaworski, Michael Jung, Ikujiro Nonaka, Peter M. Senge) Illuminating the Blind Spot. Leadership in the Context of Emerging Worlds, Summary Paper on an Ongoing Research Project. In: Leader to Leader, Spring 2002.
2001. Illuminating the Blind Spot. In: Leader to Leaders, Spring 2002.
(w W. Brian Arthur, Jonathan Day, Joseph Jaworski, Michael Jung, Ikujiro Nonaka, Peter M. Senge)
2001. Self-transcending knowledge: Sensing and Organizing Around Emerging Opportunities. In: Journal of Knowledge Management, Special Issue on Tacit Knowledge Exchange and Active Learning.
2001.(w U. Versteegen, K. Kauefer) The Pentagon Praxis. In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning and Change (Cambridge, Mass.). Vol. 2, no. 1, pp 29-40
2001. (with Peter Senge) Community Action Research. In: Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury (eds.), Handbook of Action Research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
2000. Presencing: Learning from the Future as it Emerges. On the Tacit Dimension of Leading Revolutionary Change. Paper presented at the Conference on Knowledge and Innovation, May 25-26, 2000., Helsinki School of Economics, Finland.
2001. Self-transcending Knowledge: Organizing Around Emerging Realities. In: I. Nonaka and D.J. Teece (eds.) Managing Industrial Knowledge: New Perspectives of Knowledge-based Firms, pp. 68 – 90. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
2001. Conversation with Khoo Boon. Interview by C. Otto Scharmer. In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning and Change (Cambridge, Mass.), Vol. 2, no 3, 36-45
2000. Leadership in the Digital Economy: Sensing and Actualizing Emerging Futures (with Joseph Jaworski) Society for Organizational Learning. Cambridge, Mass.,
2000. (with Joseph Jaworski) A Den Nya Ledarutmaningen: nyckelkompetenser I nya företag. In: Ledmotiv, Nummer 2: 63-74.
2000. Self-transcending Knowledge: Organizing Around Emerging Realities. In Soshiki Kaaku (Organizational Science), Vol. 33, no. 3 (March): 14-29.
2000. Universities as the Birthplace for the Creating Human Being. (with K. Kaeufer). In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning and Change (Cambridge, Mass.)
2000. Universitäten als Geburtsstätte des unternehmenden Menschen. (mit K. Kaeufer) (German Version)
2000. (with Katrin Kaeufer) Universität als Schauplatz für den unternehmerischen Menschen. Hochschulen als, LandestationenA€™ für das In-die-Weit-Kommen des Neunen.A (Universities as the Birthplace for the Entrepreneurial Human Being) In: St. Laske, T. Scheytt, C. Meister-Scheytt, C. O. Scharmer (Hrsg.), Universität im 21. Jahrhundert, Zur Interdependenz von Vegriff und Organisation der Wissenschaft, S. 109-131. Merring: Rainer Hampp Verlag.
1999. Organizing Around Not-Yet-Embodied Knowledge.
In: G.v. Krogh, I. Nonaka, and T. Nishiguchi (eds.), Knowledge Creation: A New Source of Value, pp. 36-60. New York: Macmilian.
1998. (with Peter Senge) Jenseits von Hierarchien, in bmb+f, Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie 2/1998. (Published by the German Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology).
1997. Rudolf Steiner: History as Development Towards Emancipation and Freedom. In: J. Galtung and S. Inahyatullah (eds.), Macro History and Macro Historians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change, 90A€“97. Westport, Conn.: Praeger
1997. Auguste Comte: The Law of the Three Stages. In: J. Galtung and S. Inahyatullah (eds.), Macro History and Macro Historians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change, 54A€“60. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
1997. A Max Weber: History as Interplay and Dichotomy of Rationalization and Charisma. In: J. Galtung and S. Inahyatullah (eds.), Macro History and Macro Historians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change, pp. 84-89. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.A
1997. Was ist Personal Mastery? 21 Thesen. Zwischen Selbstführung und Persönlichkeitsentfaltung (What Does Personal Mastery Mean? 21 Propositions). In: R. Benedikter (Hrsg.), Wirtschaft und Kultur in Gespräch. Zukunftsperspektiven der Wirtschaftskultur, S. 112-123. Bozen: Verlag Alpha und Beta.
1997. (with Peter Senge) Von "Learning Organizations zu "Learning Communities": Über die Produktionsbedingungen gemeinsam hervorgebrachten Wissens (From Learning Organizations to Learning Communities: On the Conditions of Cogenerating Knowledge). In: Heinrich v. Pierer und Bolko von Oetinger (Hrsg.), Wie kommt das Neue in die Welt? S. 99-111. München: Hanser Verlag.
1996. (with Peter Senge) Infrastrukturen für lernende Organisationen (Infrastructures for Learning Organizations). In: Zeitschrift für Führung und Organisation, Heft 1, S.32A€“36.
1994. Kopf, Herz und Hand. Die Anforderungen eines zukunftsfähigen Wohlstandsmodells an die Universitäten (Head, Heart and Hand: Requirements of the New Sustainability Model from Universities). In: Politische Ökologie, Heft 39, November/Dezember, S.51A€“54.
1994. Neues Wohlstandsmodell als Bildungsaufgabe (New Welfare Models as an Educational Task). In: Franz-Th. Gottwald et al. (Hrsg.), Bildung und Wohlstand, Auf dem Weg zu einer verträglichen Lebensweise, S. 14-25. Wiesbaden.
1993. Ästhetik als Kategorie strategischer Führung (Aesthetics as a Category of Strategic Leadership) . In: Bankspegal, Februar 1993, 1-2 (Part 1) and März 1993, 7-9 (Part II).
Working Papers:
2002. (with Katrin Kaeufer) Universities as the Birthplace for the Entrepreneurial Human Being.In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change (Cambridge, Mass.).
2001. Illuminating the Blind Spot: Leadership in the Context of Emerging Worlds. Summary Paper on an Ongoing Research Project. (with W. Brian Arthur, Jonathan Day, Joseph Jaworski, Michael Jung, Ikujiro Nonaka, Peter M. Senge)
2001. Building Ba to Enhance Knowledge Creation and Innovation at Large Firms. Hitotsubashi University and MIT Sloan School of Management.
2000. Presencing: Learning from the Future as it Emerges: On the Tacit Dimension of Leading Revolutionary Change. Paper presented at the Conference on Knowledge and Innovation, May 25-26, 2000, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland.
2000. (with Joseph Jaworski) Leadership in the Digital Economy: Sensing and Actualizing Emerging Futures. Society for Organization Learning, Cambridge, Mass., and Generon Consulting, Beverly, Mass.
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In February 1999, Michael Jung, Peter Senge, and I met in Lech, a little town in Austria. We felt that the field of leadership and management was approaching an inflection point, and that a deeper and more comprehensive approach to leading change in larger systems was about to emerge. We wondered how we could help these new ways of thinking, leading, and working together to advance. What would it take?
We realized that it would take, among other things, a place where thought leaders and practitioners could engage in ongoing conversation about and inquiry into the deeper foundations of leadership and change in an increasingly confusing and volatile world. We decided to ask Ikujiro Nonaka to join our core group in planning this initiative. When I met him two weeks later in Tokyo, he immediately agreed to do anything he could to help it succeed.
I then set out to interview twenty-five of today's leading thinkers on knowledge and leadership, inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, academics. The results of these interviews were stimulating beyond my highest imagination and are the central feature of this website:
www.dialogonleadership.org
- C. Otto Scharmer
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2001. Reflections on an Interview with Ed Schein and Adam Kahane. Commentary by C. Otto Scharmer. In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change (Cambridge, Mass.), Vol. 3, no 2, 19.
2001. Four Scenarios for the Future, A. Kleiner and A. Kahane. Commentary by C. Otto Scharmer. In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change (Cambridge, Mass.), Vol. 3, no 1, 70-72.
1999. Schein in the Field and in the Classroom: Reflections on a Model of Managed Learning. Commentary by C. Otto Scharmer. In: Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change (Cambridge, Mass.), Vol. 3, no 1, 70-72.
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Presence in Action: The Leverage for Shifting the Social Field
An Introduction in Theory U including a 12 Step Presencing Practice Keynote address at the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), Global Forum, Vienna, September 13, 2005. Recorded 9/9/2005, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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To purchase Otto's complete presentation including a 12-step presencing practice, please visit:
Presence in Action: An Introduction to Theory U (DVD)
Users: You have to have REAL-Player installed to see the videos. To download a free player click here.
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Theorie U: Von der Zukunft her führen
Otto Scharmer, Würzburg
May 9-11, 2008
DownloadTheory U: Leading Profound Innovation and Change
Otto Scharmer, from the Authentic Leadership in Action Conference, Ontario
May 5-7, 2008
DownloadPresencing: Von der entstehenden Zukunft her lernen
Otto Scharmer, Vienna, Austria
January 26, 2008
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