Leading From The Emerging Future

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.

The author of Theory U shares a practical guide for leaders who want to forge a path to a better future for the world. 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. In Leading from the Emerging Future, Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer show us how to lead the shift out of an economy designed to 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.

Shows how leaders can access the deepest source of inspiration and vision • Includes dozens of tested exercises, practices, and real-world examples 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.

A guide to the key concepts and applications in the author's classic book, this accessible resource 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. --

In his trailblazing book ''Theory U'', Otto Scharmer described a powerful process for sensing the future that is emerging so we can align ourselves with it and help it to come into being. Now he shows that this same U process is the key to finally resolving the multiple crises we face today. One of the key insights of Theory U is that form follows awareness: the quality of the results in any kind of system is a function of the awareness that people in the system are operating from. Even though our world is interconnected in ways unimaginable even a decade ago, in many cases our awareness - whether as individuals, organizations or nations - is still limited and local. To use an analogy from biology, even though our actions affect the larger ecosystem of which we are a part - in fact the multiple interacting economic, social, political and environmental ecosystems - we sill behave as though our actions are narrow in scope and impact. We see ourselves as part of a far smaller, more isolated ego - system. Scharmer and Kaufer explain why actions based on this ''ego - system'' awareness not only result in recurring crises, but doom any attempt to resolve them - we are trying to meet new challenges with an obsolete mindset. To show the shape of the emerging future they bring this ecosystem awareness to bear on areas such as labor, capital, production, technology, leadership, ownership and many others, offering a blueprint for a new society based on a profound understanding of how the actions of each affects the many. This book's journey is about a path and a method of dropping the baggage of old habits of thought and then crossing through the gate to an economy that operates more consciously, inclusively, and collectively.

This book presents a proven program for developing leadership skills that will bring about innovation in all sectors and create an economy that works in more intentional, inclusive, sustainable, and inspired ways.

In his trailblazing book ''Theory U'', Otto Scharmer described a powerful process for sensing the future that is emerging so we can align ourselves with it and help it to come into being. Now he shows that this same U process is the key to finally resolving the multiple crises we face today. One of the key insights of Theory U is that form follows awareness: the quality of the results in any kind of system is a function of the awareness that people in the system are operating from. Even though our world is interconnected in ways unimaginable even a decade ago, in many cases our awareness - whether as individuals, organizations or nations - is still limited and local. To use an analogy from biology, even though our actions affect the larger ecosystem of which we are a part - in fact the multiple interacting economic, social, political and environmental ecosystems - we sill behave as though our actions are narrow in scope and impact. We see ourselves as part of a far smaller, more isolated ego - system. Scharmer and Kaufer explain why actions based on this ''ego - system'' awareness not only result in recurring crises, but doom any attempt to resolve them - we are trying to meet new challenges with an obsolete mindset. To show the shape of the emerging future they bring this ecosystem awareness to bear on areas such as labor, capital, production, technology, leadership, ownership and many others, offering a blueprint for a new society based on a profound understanding of how the actions of each affects the many. This book's journey is about a path and a method of dropping the baggage of old habits of thought and then crossing through the gate to an economy that operates more consciously, inclusively, and collectively.

7 lectures, various cities, April 17-May 26, 1914 (CW 154) What is the relationship between those who have died and those who remain alive on Earth? Can we help those now in the spiritual world? Can they help us? In these talks, Rudolf Steiner deals with the spiritual relationships that the living can have with those who have crossed over the threshold between life and death. In a realistic, practical way, he shows how an understanding of our spiritual nature reveals ways of knowing a world undreamed of by materialists. The tone of these talks is warm and moving, clearly drawn from Steiner's own experience and the lives of those who had died and who were personally known to him--Robert Hamerling, Christian Morgenstern, and others. This important work is for those who are coming to terms with the death of a love one. This book is a translation from German of Wie erwirbt man sich Verständnis für die geistige Welt? Das Einfließen geistiger Impulse aus der Welt der Verstorbenen (GA 154).