Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: living labs, future that wants, highest future possibility, Circle of Seven, Brian Arthur, Master Nan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

In a world burdened with too much information, we are occasionally blessed with a genuinely new idea about how to perceive, think about, and act on our overly complex world. Scharmer's Theory U model of how to open our mind, emotions, and will to moments of discovery and mutual understanding is profound and much needed. Readers will be impressed not only by the depth of theory in this volume but also by the very practical approach that Scharmer provides us for enlarging our human capacity for growth. This will be an important book --Edgar Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

Otto Scharmer has given us a brilliant, provocative, and important book on the leading-edge of the "next big thing": integral thought. Highly recommended. --Ken Wilber, author, A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality

This book is a must-read for all who are interested in the emerging future of leadership theory and practice. Otto Scharmer´s Theory U takes you on an exciting deep dive into the true center of leadership as a process of inner knowing and social innovation. With many tested and practical exercises drawn from a rich background of disciplines, this book will help you to discover and follow the path towards mastery on your own leadership journey. It pushes the envelope of current leadership wisdom and invites you to explore the strongest leadership tool there is: yourself. --Ralf Schneider, Head of Global Talent Management, PricewaterhouseCoopers --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

We live in a time of massive institutional failure, one that requires a new consciousness and a new collective leadership capacity. In this groundbreaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways and in so doing discover a revolutionary approach to leadership.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 533 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576757633
• ISBN-13: 978-1576757635
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,656 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great book - Inspiring, Awakening, Heart Touching, May 16, 2007

By	L. Zall "www.lassezall.com" (Risskov, Denmark) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (Hardcover)

I received the book a few days ago. I have ben reading for hours and hours, with just a few necessary breaks for digesting, reflecting, accepting and bringing my own thoughts together. This is one of the few books that is not just interesting when it comes to theory and methods. What makes it special is the mixture of theories and the authors own thoughts, experiences and break through thinking.

It has ben hard to lay the book aside, because it is so intense. And I know this is a book that I will read over and over again - with longer breaks under way - in order to have time for my own thinking. Soon it is time for summer vacation - then I will have lots of time to read the book again - at a lower pace - with the time to let my thougts wander. This is the kind of book that easily trap ones mind up to its own thinking.

To be more precise, what I found so interesting about this book:

- The Blind Spot - our unability to see our own weaknesses, what we do not understand and what we hide from.
- And, what is even more interesting: How to illuminate thr Blind Spot and make it clear to us how it stands in our way of dealing with life in a constructive way. We all have these Blind Spots - and we are unaware about them. Otto Scharmers openness in reveling his own Blind Spots through true life anecdotes made me see some of my own Blind Spots and gave me the will, the commitment and the power to face them. Facing them and seeing how they stand in the way of my True Self gave me the Willpower and Leverage to Confront them without hesitation or fear.
- Behind the Blind Spot lies possibilites to understand what we may be - what kind of a future we can create - in our Full Potential. Otto Scharmer calls this Presencing, which is a good descrption for the process the book led me into.

If you are working with development of organsizations, employees or leaders this book gives you the understanding of the limited outcomes of "Downloading" - which is the most common way of teaching - and what you get out of bringing people through experiences of opening, mind, heart and start to presence the possible future.

This book will probably be a milestone for understanding more of how teaching, laerning happens and that there is more to working with of people, organizations and social systems than we have understood so far.

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read and a treasury, July 8, 2007

By	Christine Wank (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (Hardcover)

In his pioneering and brilliant book Theory U, C. Otto Scharmer, senior lecturer at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is taking us on a journey to discover and fully use our sometimes hidden inner sources of generative power, creativity and freedom in order to address the current challenges and emerging complexities in the age of globalization. His book is a synthesis of more than a decade of diligent and in-depth research in the field of management and leadership asking how profound innovation and change comes into our lives, into working teams, organisations and even whole systems.

Scharmer proposes a new model for understanding and conducting profound change and deep learning. Instead of analyzing and referring to old patterns of the past which are often inadequate in addressing the current challenges of our time and which might be even part of the problem itself, his new focus rather is on learning from and bringing into life the best of all future possibilities - a process that he calls presencing.

The leverage and starting point of the journey are less a question of what we do or how we do something - it is much more a question of how we approach or attend to a situation before we actually do something: it is our interior condition, the so-called inner place where any social action is generated and comes into being. This inner place or source is decisive in shaping the quality and result of any social action.
It is exactly that perspective which is missing in our daily perception of the world, in management and leadership literature or even in science in general which is the reason why Scharmer calls it the blind spot of our time. However, becoming aware of our blind spot we at the same time discover an untapped resource and power potential in every one of us that can be used in order to find innovative solutions to current problems and to live up to the best future potential - be it in your personal or professional life, be it in management or even globalization processes.

There are several ways of reading this book. Scharmer`s Theory U can be read as a multi-step process template with the shape of a U in order to fully understand how these innovation and deep learning processes work. Moreover, this book offers a range of principles and practices for individuals, teams and organisations for nurturing our various senses for attending to the world and for bringing the process alive in sensing and implementing the best of all future possibilities. Finally, it might work as an inspiration for your personal and professional journey in sensing what life is calling you to do and in discovering that there might be an even higher and greater future possibility for every one of us that we could not have imagined before.

Scharmer`s Theory U is a treasury full of analytic vigour and empowering inspiration. It is sure to make a great contribution to not only the current discourse on (change) management and leadership theory but also to a growing community of practice committed to collectively create profound change and innovation worldwide.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars crystal clear, January 17, 2008

By	K. E. Schouten Faber "karen" (amsterdam, the netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (Hardcover)

A clear and concise view about leadership. A scientist who dares to incorporate spirtuality in his findings. It builds bridges between the businese world and the spiritual world. This is the way of the future and gives you the possibilty of really understanding the way to enrich your life in a corporate jungle. Every one, especially leaders should read this book.