Deep Systems

Transformation


We host labs and customized programs for institutions and businesses to help lead deep system innovation and collaboration in the context of rapidly changing and challenging environments.

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The Presencing Institute

The Presencing Institute was founded to develop the theory and practice of systems transformation and to support individuals, organizations and multi-sector groups to bring about change in their own contexts. 

One vehicle for this work is the u-school for Transformation, a platform and network of partners that supports capacity-building, research, action labs and movement-building for the advancement of awareness-based systems change, addressing the critical social and environmental challenges of our times.

The Presencing Institute also runs other initiatives with institutions, businesses and governments to make the transformations that will allow them to achieve their highest future potential.

PI works with each organization to co-design processes that shift the behaviours and practices within teams and with key stakeholders in order to generate better results.


Over the past two decades, PI has developed Theory U as a change framework and set of methodologies that have been used by thousands of organizations and communities worldwide to address our most pressing global challenges: climate change, food systems, inequality and exclusion, finance, healthcare and education.


For more information, please contact us.


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Our Story

The Presencing Institute grew out of the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, which was founded by Peter Senge and colleagues together with a group of global companies in the early 1990s. 

Senge was interested in the behavioral dimension of change: Why can we develop the skills that allow us to analyze the broken systems of our current society, but the practical impact on changing these systems can be almost non-existent?

Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline was based on blending (1) system dynamics, (2) organizational change, and (3) the creative processes. What emerged from this synthesis resulted in the concept for the MIT Learning Center. 

Theory U

Otto Scharmer began investigating why some tools worked very well in the hands of some practitioners but were ineffective in the hands of others. He conducted 150 interviews with leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators, many of which were conducted with Joseph Jaworski, as well as actively participated in change processes in companies, governments, and communities.

The result of this work is Theory U - a framework for learning, leading, innovating, and profound systems change. It has been fully described in Otto’s book Theory U and in the book Presence that Otto co-authored with Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. Over a period of 10 years, a network began to grow among change makers who were cultivating presencing and the emerging practice of ‘awareness-based systems change’ as an approach to deep systems innovation and renewal in organizations, society and self.

The Institute

In 2006, the Presencing Institute (PI) was founded as a platform for advancing research and practice on awareness-based systems change, based on Theory U, and as a movement of practitioners apply these tools to bringing about change in the world.

Since its founding, PI has launched several major learning and innovation initiatives (including u-lab, GAIA, SDG Leadership Labs and u-school) and supported major leadership development programs in partnership with Ubuntu Lab (Africa), Asia-Pacific (United in Diversity) and the finance sector (Global Alliance for Banking on Values). PI's publications, journal and blogs contribute to advancing the field of awareness-based systems change.

u-school for Transformation

In order to complement its work with institutions and organizations, the Presencing Institute has also built a platform for capacity building, action research and deep dialogues for global awareness-based systems change, aiming to activate and support a network of places and hubs for taking action for the healing and regeneration of society and self. Learn more about the u-school.


How We Operate

PI is registered as a 501c3 non-profit organization in Massachusetts, USA and as a gGmbH in Berlin, Germany. PI is managed by a small core team, and co-led by a global network of faculty, specialists and partners. For Further information, please contact Janice Spadafore.


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Books

Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

C. Otto Scharmer

2nd Edition, 2016

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Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

C. Otto Scharmer 

2nd Edition, 2016

In this ground-breaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways. What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention – both individually and collectively – is key to what we create. What often prevents us from “attending” is what Scharmer calls our “blind spot,” the inner place from which each of us operates. Learning to become aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business and society today.

By moving through the “U” process we learn to connect to our essential Self, 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. This wholistic opening constitutes a shift in awareness that allows us to learn from the future as it emerges, and to realize that future in the world.

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The Essentials of

Theory U:

Core Principles and Applications

C. Otto Scharmer

2018

READ MORE

The Essentials of

Theory U:

Core Principles and Applications

C. Otto Scharmer

2018 

A useful pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Otto Scharmer’s seminal texts Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future.


A short handbook that focuses on the core principles of Theory U, the key movements that makes the process of Theory U, and social applications, to be used as an introduction to work in the field of Presencing.

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Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economics

C. Otto Scharmer and

Katrin Kaufer

2013

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Leading from the Emerging Future:

From Ego-System to Eco-System Economics

C. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer

2nd Edition, 2013 

We have entered an age of disruption. Financial collapse, climate change, resource depletion, and a growing gap between rich and poor are but a few of the signs. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer ask, why do we collectively create results nobody wants? Meeting the challenges of this century requires updating our economic logic and operating system from an obsolete “ego-system” focused entirely on the well-being of oneself to an eco-system awareness that emphasizes the well-being of the whole.

Filled with real-world examples, this thought-provoking guide presents proven practices for building a new economy that is more resilient, intentional, inclusive, and aware.

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Presence:

An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer,

Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers

2004

Organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty S. Flowers explored the nature of transformational change – how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. By encouraging deeper levels of learning, we create an awareness of the larger whole, leading to actions that can help to shape its evolution and our future.

Drawing on the wisdom and experience of 150 scientists, social leaders, and entrepreneurs, including Brian Arthur, Rupert Sheldrake, Buckminster Fuller, Lao Tzu and Carl Jung, Presence revolutionary and original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense and realize new possibilities in ourselves, in institutions and organizations, and in society itself.

BUY NOW

Presence:

An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, andBetty Sue Flowers

2004

READ MORE

Presence:

An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer,

Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers

2004

Organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty S. Flowers explored the nature of transformational change – how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. By encouraging deeper levels of learning, we create an awareness of the larger whole, leading to actions that can help to shape its evolution and our future.

Drawing on the wisdom and experience of 150 scientists, social leaders, and entrepreneurs, including Brian Arthur, Rupert Sheldrake, Buckminster Fuller, Lao Tzu and Carl Jung, Presence revolutionary and original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense and realize new possibilities in ourselves, in institutions and organizations, and in society itself.

BUY NOW

Just Money: Mission-Driven Banks and the Future of Finance

Katrin Kaufer and Lilian Steponaitis

2nd Edition, 2021

READ MORE

Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

C. Otto Scharmer 

2nd Edition, 2016

In this ground-breaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways. What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention – both individually and collectively – is key to what we create. What often prevents us from “attending” is what Scharmer calls our “blind spot,” the inner place from which each of us operates. Learning to become aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business and society today.

By moving through the “U” process we learn to connect to our essential Self, 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. This wholistic opening constitutes a shift in awareness that allows us to learn from the future as it emerges, and to realize that future in the world.

BUY NOW

The Essentials of

Theory U:

Core Principles and Applications

C. Otto Scharmer

2018 

A useful pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Otto Scharmer’s seminal texts Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future.


A short handbook that focuses on the core principles of Theory U, the key movements that makes the process of Theory U, and social applications, to be used as an introduction to work in the field of Presencing.

BUY NOW

Learn, Innovate, Transform.

We can help you as a leader, change-maker, team or organization to initiate and sustain transformational change.

Discover Theory U: a change and innovation framework and set of methodologies that have been used by thousands of organizations worldwide.
Find new solutions in an era of unprecedented disruption and potential for transformation.

Building on the work of the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer and others, at the intersection of science, consciousness, and profound social and organizational change.