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Otto Scharmer

Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges Paperback – January 1, 2009

by C. Otto Scharmer (Author)

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Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges
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In this ground-breaking book, C. Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways.

What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention is the key to what we create. What often prevents us from 'being present, ' is what Scharmer calls our blind spot, the inner place from which each of us operates. Becoming 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. When 'presencing' 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. Through this process we are able to shift our awareness to allow us to connect with our best future possibility--and to realize it.

Print length

533 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date

January 1, 2009
Dimensions

7 x 1.43 x 9.07 inches
ISBN-10

1576757633
ISBN-13

978-1576757635
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“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.”
—Edgar Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

“The impact of the Theory U method on our organization is remarkable, but even more important is the amazing personal growth many leaders have experienced. Scharmer’s work has allowed them to experience a new approach to the world.”
—Marcia Marsh, Chief Operating Officer, World Wildlife Fund

“Theory U offers a unique integral perspective combined with a practical approach to addressing the megaissues facing our world today.”
—Jack Jacometti, Director, Institute for Integrated Economic Research

“This book is an inspiration. It gives definition to the mystery of the creative process.”
—Eileen Fisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher Inc.

From the Publisher

Praise for Theory U

"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."
--Edgar Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management, and author of Helping "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 "The impact of the Theory U method on our organization is remarkable, but even more important is the amazing personal growth many leaders have experienced. Scharmer's work has allowed them to experience a new approach to the world."
--Marcia Marsh, Chief Operating Officer, World Wildlife Fund "Though many agree with Einstein's observation that `problems cannot be resolved at the level of consciousness that created them' the key question remains how to realize such a shift. Theory U offers a unique integral perspective combined with a practical approach to addressing the megaissues facing our world today."
--Jack Jacometti, Vice President, Global GTL Development, Shell International Gas Limited "This book is an inspiration. It gives definition to the mystery of the creative process."
--Eileen Fisher, President and Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher Inc.

From the Back Cover

Access the deepest source of inspiration and vision

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.

What we pay attention to and how we pay attention is key to what we create. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren't fully aware of and in touch with the inner place from which attention and intention originate. This is what Scharmer calls our blind spot. By moving through Scharmer's U process, we consciously access the blind spot and learn to connect to our authentic Self--the deepest source of knowledge and inspiration--in the realm of "presencing," a term coined by Scharmer that combines the concepts of presence and sensing. Based on ten years of research and action learning and interviews with over 150 practitioners and thought leaders, Theory U offers a rich diversity of compelling stories and examples and includes dozens of exercises and practices that allow leaders, and entire organizations, to shift awareness, connect with the best future possibility, and gain the ability to realize it.

About the Author

C. Otto Scharmer is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founding chair of the Presencing Institute. He is faculty chair of MIT’s IDEAS program; visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing; and a cofounder of the Global Wellbeing and Gross National Happiness Lab, which links innovators from Bhutan, India, China, Brazil, Europe, and the United States to prototype profound innovations in government, business, education, and civil society. He is the coauthor of Leading from the Emerging Future and Presence.

Foreword author Peter Senge is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning North America and the coauthor of the bestselling book, The Fifth Discipline.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1st edition (January 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 533 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1576757633
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1576757635
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 0.071 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.43 x 9.07 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #327,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,497 in Business Processes & Infrastructure
- #4,642 in Leadership & Motivation

Customer Reviews:
111 ratings

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3 star		8%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

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Deacon Larry Hiner, PsyD

Easily digestible - yet may need help to realize in action

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2016

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If businesses could pick up their heads from operations long enough to grasp and implement these concepts, they would be far better off than today. Being able to stand back for a moment and be fully present to the social field and touch the emergent future is a skill that most leaders crave - yet rarely take time to do, or even know how to do. It might happen that a CEO or two picks up this book and "gets it" and may even be able to implement "it;" and there will be many who read the highly-understandable prose and nod in agreement, and place the book prominently on their shelf (probably along side "The Fifth Discipline"). Yes, it will likely take the outside-in perspective and the guiding voice of a consultant to fully integrate Theory U into the learning organization - something which Scharmer does.

5 people found this helpful

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Shadows

Organizational change and mindfulness.

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2016

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It seems to be an effort to develop a theory that is just not there yet. Wordy with a tendency to ramble, it lacks the focus that it needs. There are valuable, but somewhat standard sources cited which are found in much of the organizational literature. Essentially, there is an effort to connect "mindfulness" or meditation with the process of organizational change. While it may be a valuable idea, the process is not well defined at this point.

9 people found this helpful

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L. Zall

A very important book about leading change

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2009

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I read this book for the first time a few years ago. I gave this copey away and now I have got the paperback version - and I am reading it again.

I see the book about Theory U as probably the most valuable book about leadership, strategy, change and transition in the last ten years.

It 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. This combination of theory and anecdotes is stimulating for reflection and starts journeys in my mind.

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

- Blind Spots - our inability 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 is 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.

11 people found this helpful

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acv211

To dense for me

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2014

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Well first of all, I bought the Kindle version and there are no page numbers (for anyone who purchased this for a class like I did).

Second, it is very dense and very much a book that asks you to look into yourself every five seconds. I appreciate that it is supposed to give you a taste of what and how to look into yourself to be a better leader and really a better person, but I felt like the way it was described to me was more than I could absorb. I had trouble focusing in on anything because so many things were thrown at me at once. My classmates are very split on this. Some feel as I do and feel like the book is just too high level without enough description of what he is really trying to say, while others are feeling enlightened and feel super connected to it. I guess it just depends what kind of person you are, but I say good luck to you (especially to the fellow student who doesn't have a choice) because this book has really bored me. A lot of the insight makes connects to Senge and I found Senge to be a much more engaging writer.

4 people found this helpful

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Dorothea Altgelt

New Style of Leadership

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2016

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The service was prompt and the book arrived in great condition. This is an amazing book! What great insights! In addition, it is full of wonderful ideas and practical steps to move forward in a new and inspired way; highly recommended for any organization!

One person found this helpful

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Wild goose

This might be an awesome book but it's so huge that only an HR ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2015

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This might be an awesome book but it's so huge that only an HR professional would probably bother to read it. I guess it's used for academic study. Not a book for bed time. If you are looking for something on Theory U you'd need to be totally committed to get through this.

One person found this helpful

Michael E

Good delivery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Good read

Amazon Customer

i particularly enjoyed the field theory in the middle of the

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

an incredible book .... and guide . i particularly enjoyed the field theory in the middle of the book

PIETRO TRENTIN

un libro affascinante, complesso ma molto originale, innovativo

Reviewed in Italy on September 28, 2017

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Trovo particolarmente stimolante l'approccio da grande bibliotecario (numerose teorie riprese da campi disciplinari diversi) unito a quello estremamente pragmatico, operativo, finalizzato ai risultati, tipico della migliore cultura americana. Probabilmente la provenienza tedesca dell'autore ha facilitato questa sinergia tra estremo rigore scientifico e forte apertura alle dimensioni del reale, sia esso l'individuo, siano le organizzazioni e le società (micro, meso, macro e mundo, come dice Scahrmer.
Alcune parti sono oggettivamente difficili da interpretare, specie de vogliamo in qualche modo riportarle nella cultura europea ed italiana in particolare, ma il viaggio che Scharmer ci propone è indubbiamente affascinante e ricco di stimoli intellettuali. Molto interessanti anche le testimonianze/esperienze realizzate con alcune importanti imprese e organizzazioni no-profit.
"It was worthwhile buying it"!

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Manuel Herrera

This is an excellent book that helps you think how to takle the ...

Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2016

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This is an excellent book that helps you think how to takle the growing complexity of the world today. It also blends the multiple levels of what human beings are and helps science oriented people to grasp concept of spirituality and values, and how those influence leadership behaviours.

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