About "Theory U": Resources from the Society of Organizational Learning
15 January 2011
In
Theory U: Leading from the future as it
emerges
(SoL, 2007), C. Otto Scharmer expounds on the theoretical foundations of what he calls "the
social technology of precensing". Presencing is a blend of the words "presence" and "sensing", and
is defined as "the ability to sense and bring into the present one's highest future potential—as an
individual and as a group".
Theory U is presented as a new territory of scientific research and personal leadership, one that is grounded in real life experience and shared practices. Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways by learning to become aware of our "blind spot", by sharing from his own personal and professional development. 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".
Related Resources:
Presence in Action: An
Introduction to Theory U (DVD)
This video features C. Otto Scharmer's keynote address prepared for the opening session of
the Society of Learning's Second Global Forum in September of 2005.
In three segments, "Shifting the Social Field," "Facing Three Enemies," and "A 12-Step Presencing Practice," Scharmer introduces the social technology of presencing to management and management science. The learning and change theories that guide leaders' actions are based on reflecting on past experience. But the complex challenges facing us today require a new form of learning - one that connects us to the emerging future. "Presencing," a blend of "presence" and "sensing," refers to the ability to sense and bring into the present one's highest future potential. Scharmer shows us our current blind spot and encourages co-creation of a future that depends on each of us.
Format: NTSC
Run Time: 60 minutes
Inside-Out: Stories and Methods for
Generating Collective Will to Create the Future We Want
Inside-Out by Tracy Huston builds on U-theory by exploring "collective presencing" approaches
for developing the personal, relational, and systemic conditions needed to support leaders in
collaborating across their institutional boundaries to create the future they want. Drawing from
her work in multi-stakeholder change initiatives, as well as from a variety of "ensemble" practices
employed in the arts, Huston offers a rich mix of stories, cases, and practical methods for
generating and sustaining whole system change, from the "inside-out."
Paperback: 157 pages
Publisher: SoL, the Society for Organizational Learning (May 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0974239062
ISBN-13: 978-0974239064
