The Essentials of Theory U
Core Principles and Applications
1st Edition
Published on 20. March 2018
168 pages
978-1-5230-9442-4 (ISBN)
Description
Creating a Better Future
This book offers a concise, accessible guide to the key concepts and applications in Otto Scharmer's classic Theory U. Scharmer argues that our capacity to pay attention coshapes the world. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren't fully aware of that interior condition from which our attention and actions originate. Scharmer calls this lack of awareness our blind spot. He illuminates the blind spot in leadership today and offers hands-on methods to help change makers overcome it through the process, principles, and practices of Theory U. And he outlines a framework for updating the "operating systems" of our educational institutions, our economies, and our democracies. This book enables leaders and organizations in all industries and sectors to shift awareness, connect with the highest future possibilities, and strengthen the capacity to co-shape the future.
This book offers a concise, accessible guide to the key concepts and applications in Otto Scharmer's classic Theory U. Scharmer argues that our capacity to pay attention coshapes the world. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren't fully aware of that interior condition from which our attention and actions originate. Scharmer calls this lack of awareness our blind spot. He illuminates the blind spot in leadership today and offers hands-on methods to help change makers overcome it through the process, principles, and practices of Theory U. And he outlines a framework for updating the "operating systems" of our educational institutions, our economies, and our democracies. This book enables leaders and organizations in all industries and sectors to shift awareness, connect with the highest future possibilities, and strengthen the capacity to co-shape the future.
More details
Person
Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, a Thousand Talents Program Professor at Tsinghua University, and co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He also chairs the MIT IDEAS program for cross-sector innovation in China and Indonesia. He is author of Theory U and co-author of Presence and Leading from the Emerging Future. Otto earned his diploma with distinction and PhD summa cum laude from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching at MIT (2015) and the EU Leonardo Corporate Learning Award for the contributions of Theory U to the future of management and learning (2016). In 2016 he was also named one of the world's top 30 education professionals by globalgurus.org.
Content
PART I: LEADING IN FRONT OF THE BLANK CANVAS
1. Introduction: Leading in the Face of Disruption
. Disruption - When Systems Fail, Leaders and Citizens Rise
. Three Ways of Responding:
. Muddling through (downloading),
. Moving back (absencing),
. Moving forward (presencing)
2. Theory U: Seven states of Awareness (inner places of operating)
. Intro: Brain Plasticity
. Breaking through the patterns of downloading
. Seeing current reality
. Sensing: redirecting your attention
. Presencing: connecting to the source of our highest future potential
. Crystallizing vision and intention
. Prototyping: fail early to learn quickly
. Embodying in principles and practices
3. Matrix of Social Evolution
. Listening: Deep Listening
. Conversation: Dialogue
. Organizing: Evolutionary Organizations
. Coordinating: Awareness Based Collective Action
PART II: LEADING CHANGE-ONE PROCESS, FIVE MOVEMENTS
4. Co-initiating: uncovering common ground and shared intent
5. Co-sensing: seeing reality from the edges of the system
6. Co-inspiring: connecting to the sources of creativity and self
7. Co-creating: prototyping the new in order to learn by doing
8. Co-shaping: embody the new in practices and embed in eco-systems
PART III: Leading Societal Evolution
9. Systemic Inversion: The Journey from Society 2.0 to Society 4.0
10. Economy 4.0: From Ego-system to Eco-system Awareness
11. Democracy 4.0: Direct, Distributed, Dialogic
12. Learning 4.0: Co-sense and Co-shape the Future As It Emerges
13. u.lab: A 21st Century Global Action Platform and University
1. Introduction: Leading in the Face of Disruption
. Disruption - When Systems Fail, Leaders and Citizens Rise
. Three Ways of Responding:
. Muddling through (downloading),
. Moving back (absencing),
. Moving forward (presencing)
2. Theory U: Seven states of Awareness (inner places of operating)
. Intro: Brain Plasticity
. Breaking through the patterns of downloading
. Seeing current reality
. Sensing: redirecting your attention
. Presencing: connecting to the source of our highest future potential
. Crystallizing vision and intention
. Prototyping: fail early to learn quickly
. Embodying in principles and practices
3. Matrix of Social Evolution
. Listening: Deep Listening
. Conversation: Dialogue
. Organizing: Evolutionary Organizations
. Coordinating: Awareness Based Collective Action
PART II: LEADING CHANGE-ONE PROCESS, FIVE MOVEMENTS
4. Co-initiating: uncovering common ground and shared intent
5. Co-sensing: seeing reality from the edges of the system
6. Co-inspiring: connecting to the sources of creativity and self
7. Co-creating: prototyping the new in order to learn by doing
8. Co-shaping: embody the new in practices and embed in eco-systems
PART III: Leading Societal Evolution
9. Systemic Inversion: The Journey from Society 2.0 to Society 4.0
10. Economy 4.0: From Ego-system to Eco-system Awareness
11. Democracy 4.0: Direct, Distributed, Dialogic
12. Learning 4.0: Co-sense and Co-shape the Future As It Emerges
13. u.lab: A 21st Century Global Action Platform and University
