Customer Reviews

Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future

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Presence is reflective and discursive, with a lot of forays into philosophical thinking and developments in scientific theory. It is probably well pitched to its primary audience of members of the Society for Organizational Learning and the organizational learning community generally. Others, who are more used to a diet of "how to's", sidebars, summaries and highlighted key points are likely to find it hard going.

However, these are probably precisely the people who most need to absorb the ideas in the book. I have a feeling that, just as the ideas in The Fifth Discipline did not really gain wide acceptance until after the companion The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook appeared, we may need some sort of Presence Fieldbook to support Presence. That would also allow inclusion of material by other authors that seems to be highly relevant, for example Howard Gardner's concept of stories and counter-stories (set out in Leading Minds) and some of the ideas in Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point on what it is that makes new ideas catch on and his more recent Blink on intuition.

The authors' central question is "How do we individually and collectively bring about useful change in circumstances where the past, and established ways of thinking, are not good guides to the future?" If, as the authors believe, globalization, the exponentially growing impact of humans on the environment, and the overwhelming power and influence of a small number of global corporations have produced a situation in which accepted ways of thinking and acting are no longer appropriate, what are the appropriate ways of thinking and acting and how do we learn them, get them accepted and promote their widespread adoption? Is this an issue only for those in 'positions of power', or can all of us make a difference?

The book takes the form of passages of narrative interspersed with conversations in symposium form. The result is a discursive, but valuable, journey into identifying the right questions and approaches to achieving sustainable answers. The subject is overwhelmingly important and the way it is treated is useful and illuminating. Much of its appeal derives from the fact that the four authors are skilled in the art of dialogue and wide-ranging conversation and have complementary skills and experiences.

Many of the conversations build on themes that have been attracting growing attention. The themes can be grouped broadly as:
* those concerned with identifying the issues, why they are matters of concern and what it is about current thinking and approaches to solving them that makes them worse rather than better. These centre on impacts on the environment and the disparities of wealth around the world and the limitations of the analytical and linear approach to problem identification and solutions;
* those concerned with the implications of systemicity and complexity, in particular the need to perceive the whole rather than focusing on parts. These elements of the conversations draw extensively on insights of the economist W. Brian Lewis, and broader aspects of complexity theory; and
* those concerned with holistic ways of perceiving, reflecting on and responding to issues and the conditions necessary for emergence among an empowered group of a radical new understanding of an issue, and shared enthusiasm for concerted action. These themes draw heavily on Eastern philosophies, on systems theory and our growing experience of deliberate use of dialogue, reflection and democratic forms of group process and networking.

The authors build up a picture of an idea - a way of 'seeing the world anew' and a process that will help individuals and groups to move through the profound shifts in ways of thinking and communicating needed to move forward. This is expressed in the theory of the "U Movement", the development and exposition of which forms the central organizing principle for the book, particularly Parts 2 through 4. The elements of the theory are most concisely shown in a chart on page 225. It is a process in three stages.

The first stage, Sensing, is concerned with standing back from our accustomed way of seeing and dealing with issues, through processes of profound reflection and a focus on the whole.

The second (Presencing) is identified as the most difficult both to explain and to experience: it is (at least in part) a profound transformation from the deeply inbuilt Western view of the self as operator on an external world to an understanding of our role as one agent in the emergence of an unfolding future. Chapter 7 contains a number of examples and anecdotes to try to convey the feeling of this transformation: it is not surprising that the printed word is not wholly successful in conveying something which really has to be experienced.

The third (Realizing) is based on the thesis that it is the profound (collective) change in stage 2 that results in shared clarity as to how to move forward through three sub-stages towards full implementation.

The argument of the book as a whole asserts that total reliance on dispassionate analytical rationalism is a sure path to the wrong answer and that we (individually and collectively) need to find ways to see the wholeness of life and to use our hearts and our intuition to become "part of a future that is seeking to unfold". The authors contrive to bring together a good deal of evidence that such a transformation has valuable practical consequences as well as providing for a much more satisfying personal life for those who can make the transformation.

While this world view is still radical, at least in business circles, it is not new but is rather a part of a growing movement. The authors take a valuable further step both in explaining why a change is necessary and in sketching an approach to learning the profound transformations in perspective that are needed.

Presence is a most unusual book. If you have read Synchronicity by Joseph Jaworski (one of the co-authors of Presence), that will give you a hint of what's to come. The book is much different than Peter Senge's usual fare so fasten your seat belt and get ready for a soulful ride to places and thoughts that you have probably never considered before.

The book is built around a series of conversations that the four co-authors had in the home of co-author C. Otto Scharmer in Cambridge, Massachusetts over a little more than a year that covered their mutual concern that humanity is headed for a bad end. They first explored whether focusing people on a lose-lose scenario in which everything goes kaput would help solve the problem. Gradually, they came to realize that there seems to be a better method for redirecting humanity through a form of collective deep learning that groups can do to grasp a more meaningful and pertinent direction for their organizations and themselves.

Much of the book then develops a theory of a process for group learning called the theory of the U. The process has three basic steps: 1. observing, observing, and observing until you begin to see your situation from being deeply connected to it so that you sense its true nature 2. presencing, which is being with the situation until a deeper form of knowing evolves (think of this as creating the epiphany) and 3. realizing, which is moving to make your epiphany real.

The book has several powerful stories of how this process has worked with groups. I especially liked the story about how the medical personnel and the patients described medical care as being "quick fix" oriented while both sets of people really wanted to provide and experience deeper counseling and coaching care with one another. The group seemed to instantly coalesce about making the common desire real.

I felt like I could relate to the process and the supporting examples having seen a similar response in groups over my career. There's an unspoken consensus in every organization that is often invisible to the participants because their relationships exist on only a superficial basis. If you ask them individually about their deepest desires and hopes for the organization and themselves, another reality emerges. If you then expose that reality in a group meeting to each other, they immediately begin to act on that new reality. I've been running sessions like this for more than 25 years and find it to be a profoundly moving experience. I was glad to see the work that The Society for Organizational Learning is doing to expand upon this form of change management.

If you are interested in learning another way to apply this process, you might want to look at a book I co-authored, The 2,000 Percent Solution and the 8 step process in part two. The first four steps relate to observing. The second two steps relate to presencing. The final two steps are about realizing. This process can be applied by either an individual or a group.

Presence is filled with many other wonderful stories and questions. I particularly enjoyed the part about the future of science and how that discipline needs to expand to encompass the spiritual . . . and how many scientists are privately doing this.

As I read the book, I was reminded also of a novel I just read and reviewed, Diving the Seamount, that develops many of the same themes as in this book: We are increasingly living our lives separate from one another and from nature. We can only heal our society, ourselves and our world when we reconnect with one another and nature. Interestingly, both books talk about Baja California as a physical source for this learning.

The book also describes some wonderful places to visit and I quickly added them to my list. I'm sure you will, too.

Presence ends up with a consideration of how the gorilla will do after man is gone. I took that question differently than the authors did. They seemed to miss the full impact of the question. First, man may replace himself with something new through biotechnology and evolution related to space exploration. How will the gorilla do with the replacement? Second, if man is gone, will the gorilla evolve to have all of our bad habits . . . and doom themselves?

If you like powerful books about being, what learning is and important questions about existence, you will love Presence. The authors take a nonsectarian view toward spiritual questions, drawing on many different traditions. I felt like I was reading The Golden Bough in places.

If you like your perspectives neatly tied into a bow with specific action prescriptions, this book will annoy you. But perhaps the annoyance will help you learn. The authors don't feel they know the answers, so they have just revealed the journey that took them to where they are. I recommend the journey to you.

In these times of negative job creation, CEOs in handcuffs, morally bankrupt managers, and administration-sanctioned environmental debacles, it is refreshing to read something as hopeful as this book. The four co-authors bring their own unique viewpoints to this exploration of human potential, and I don't think there's been anything like it since Margaret Wheatley's "Leadership and the New Science," which was easily the most important business book of the 1990s.

I have long admired Peter Senge and his various books. Not one word ever seems excessive, not one book offers anything less than thought-provoking, rigorous argument.

This is not a book to skim; one has to read it straight through to get the most out of this thoughtful, immediately engaging book. I would love to see corporations buy it in quantity and INSIST that their managers read it, discuss it, and post reviews on their intranets -- just as they do in Japan.

This is about the publishing. Presence: Human Purpose... and Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change... are the same books. Human Purpose, has thicker paper, a little color and a few different pages but that is all. Perhaps it is my ignorancy and enthusiasm - to get as much of Senge's present perspective as possible. I assumed that they were different books because they are both hard cover, have different subtitles and there was no mention of there sameness by Amazon.

This is one of those books where you can have 100 readers, and each one will come away with something different.

You might view it as a definitive guide for co-creating solutions to hard problems in complex environments. Or, you can use it as a collection of vignettes, each having its own bit of wisdom. In fact, there are quite a few gold nuggets here. You'll have to find those which appeal to you, stitch them together, and, as the authors suggest, prototype a solution.

But be forewarned. Whatever your purpose, you'd better have a completely open mind. These guys definitely stretch beyond the usual scientific boundaries. However, if you stay with it, you'll begin to see how you can truly be part of something greater, working toward a greater good. In fact, that's probably the only assurance we have that the authors' doomsday scenario won't come to fruition.

You'll need to be patient in plowing through the long conversations. But if you are a believer in emergence, you'll see why those conversations need to be preserved. And what emerges is a better way. Rather than driving change, we see the greater possibilities that can result from discovering, then co-creating, the change that wants to come out. And yes, there are some case histories based on real situations.

The authors attack scientific reductionism and fragmentation head-on. Thankfully, they also give us an alternative approach - if you have the guts to try it. They make this point very strongly: the only way we can deal with today's complex problems is to view them from the perspective of what the authors call unbroken wholeness, and interrelatedness of nature. By Chapter 14, we get to see how integrating science can help us do just that.

Unlike the authors, I'm not into doomsday scenarios. So the end was a bit hard to swallow. But I still came away with a lot of food for thought, introspection and reflection regarding the future, and how we might take an active part in creating that future, which is so desperately trying to emerge.

My suggestion: give the "U" approach a try, see what emerges, and run with it. You might be pleasantly surprised.

While our "political" leaders are busy playing with the media and keeping the spin on, some leaders from academics and business are working on the true issues of our time. Senge, et.al., in this book Presence, are making real progress in how to approach the challenges of managing and leading during these times of great change, as decisions made today either imperil or enhance future generation's abilities to survive.

Written as a dialogue, with examples from experiences by the authors and results of extensive interviews with world leaders from various fields, this book is a masterwork. Having learned from leading scientists, managers, philosophers and artists, this team explains that as we project future scenarios, and truly gain wisdom from what they can teach us, we gain the power to change the future. They further demonstrate the empowerment that is possible by inclusion of many different realities in creation of learning environments and warn of the lack of vision that wearing `Cartesian' blinders bring, when working in a global context that includes the East and the West.

Introducing the "U" theory of learning, developed by Otto Scharmer (one of the authors), the reader begins to see the power of leadership based on focusing on the "whole" rather than the noise that captures so much of our leaders attention.

Systems thinking principles are used throughout the book. The combination of the dialogue based style, the new ideas found in the "U" theory, and the hopeful message that we can change the world by becoming tolerant, inclusive and wise, as opposed to "busy", makes this a masterwork. It is well referenced and the bibliography is very useful. Read this book.

I have to admit it, I thought this seemed like a really expensive business book. I then looked at my bookshelf and realized I had paid nearly as much for the paperback edition of one of the most useful books ever -- the author's earlier THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELD BOOK, which is now required reading in just about every MBA program in the world. Peter Senge seems to me to be in a class by himself. His work is accessible yet challenging, beautiful and inspiring. I agree with the comment earlier that you feel like you are sitting around his dining room table talking about what you can do to make a difference in the world. I'd pay a premium for a place at *that* table.

Deep wisdom, fundamental goodness, and hope is what Peter, Otto, Joseph, and Betty Sue have modeled and gathered for us. Anyone looking at this book senses that we are transitioning to a deeper level of understanding and connectedness. Educators and parents as well as leaders of other human institutions will grow from this collective work, which will surely speed our transition.

I am the Director of Professional Growth at a Jesuit High school in San Francisco. We are struggling with the same concepts outlined so eloquently in this beautiful book. A school that is "Present" will help student develop their capacities to observe the world through both new and traditional lenses. Young people who understand and live their connectedness will join in their futures to create the stories and develop the spiritualities that will guide our institutions and ourselves into greater harmony with creation.

An amazing book. A group of experienced business guru's, dedicated to improve the world by changing the way business work. Unlike self-help management books, this book is deep. It has a new theory to report (the U-process), but the focus is the journey the authors are going through, rather than their elevator pitch.
The book merges east and west, and offers a unique message: businesses are the new organism in our world, and they hold the decentralized power to change the world. But businesses are a complex, living system, and should be managed as one. Not as a giant clockwork mechanism.

The authors interviewed many successful people from different organizations (Shell, Gap, Visa to name a few), and came with the U-process theory, based on the common themes from those interviews.

A must-read for open-minded people who care about the state of the world, but look for long term, practical principles rather than quick fixes.

Peter Senge has been saying much of the same thing he does in this beautiful book, ever since The Fifth Discipline. This time he does it in such an accessible way that you can't help but feel you're being privileged to sit in on a conversation with Peter and three of his brilliant friends. If you ever feel like the dimension of human potential has hardly been touched, then read this book. Anything is possible!