Theory U - Leading from the future as it

emerges
How to develop leadership capacities that would not
otherwise be possible...

Introduction
"Theory U - Leading from the future as it emerges" sounds a bit esoteric and "out
there". I have thought long and hard about including this material partly because I
have struggled with some of Otto Scharmer's concepts and the way he attempts to
explain them, and partly because I am not sure how receptive visitors to this site
will be to this material.

However, I intuitively feel that what he has to say has direct relevance to strategies
for managing change - and in particular to the creative process of leadership.
Here are Otto Scharmer's ideas presented in his own language and taken from a 2
page summary available on his site.
I have added some personal observations and comments which are sited below the
executive summary that follows.

Theory U - Executive Summary

In his latest book "Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges" (Cambridge,
MA: Society for Organizational Learning, 2007), Otto Scharmer introduces readers
to the theory and practice of the U process, based on a concept he calls
presencing.
This is a blend of the words presence and sensing, presencing signifies a
heightened state of attention that allows individuals and groups to shift the inner

place from which they function. When that shift happens, people begin to operate
from a future space of possibility that they feel wants to emerge.
Being able to facilitate that shift is, according to Scharmer, the essence of
leadership today.
At the end of the 17 page Executive Summary shown in the link further down this
page you will find more complete coverage of how Theory U is being used by
numerous stakeholders and corporate innovators, and information on how you
might become involved with the Presencing Institute to which there is also a link
below.
Using his experience working with some of the worlds most accomplished leaders
and innovators, Otto Scharmer shows in Theory U how groups and organizations
can develop seven leadership capacities in order to create a future that would
nototherwise be possible.
Tapping Our Collective Capacity
We live in a time of massive institutional failure, collectively creating results that
nobody wants. Climate change. AIDS. Hunger. Poverty. Violence. Terrorism.
Destruction of communities, nature, life the foundations of our social, economic,
ecological, and spiritual well-being. This time calls for a new consciousness and a
new collective leadership capacity to meet challenges in a more conscious,
intentional, and strategic way. The development of such a capacity would allow us
to create a future of greater possibilities.
Illuminating the Blind Spot
Why do our attempts to deal with the challenges of our time so often fail? Why are
we stuck in so many quagmires today?The cause of our collective failure is that we
are blind to the deeper dimension of leadership and transformational change.This
blind spot exists not only in our collective leadership but also in our everyday
social interactions. We are blind to the source dimension from which effective
leadership and social action come into being.
We know a great deal about what leaders do and how they do it. But we know very
little about the inner place, the source from which they operate. And it is this
source that Theory U attempts to explore.
The U: One Process, Five Movements
When leaders develop the capacity to come near to that source, they experience
the future as if it were wanting to be bornan experience called presencing.
That experience often carries with it ideas for meeting challenges and for bringing
intobeing an otherwise impossible future. Theory U shows how that capacity for
presencing can be developed.
Presencing is a journey with five movements:
(1) CO-INITIATING: Build Common Intent stop and listen to others and to what
life calls you to do
(2) CO-SENSING: Observe, Observe, Observe go to the places of most potential
and listen with your mind and heart wide open

(3) PRESENCING: Connect to the Source of Inspiration and Will, go to the place of
silence and allow the inner knowing to emerge
(4) CO-CREATING: Prototype the New in living examples to explore the future by
doing
(5) CO-EVOLVING: Embody the New in Ecosystems that facilitate seeing and
acting from the whole
As the diagram illustrates, we move down one side of the U (connecting us to the
world that is outside of our institutionalbubble) to the bottom of the U (connecting
us to the world that emerges from within) and up the other side of the U (bringing
forth the new into the world).
On that journey, at the bottom of the U, lies an inner gate that requires us to drop
everything that isnt essential. This process of letting-go (of our old ego and self)
and letting-come (our highest future possibility: our Self) establishes a subtle
connection to a deeper source of knowing.
The essence of presencing is that these two selves our current self and our best
future Self meet at the bottom of the U and begin to listen and resonate with
each other.
Once a group crosses this threshold, nothing remains the same. Individual
members and the group as a whole begin to operate with a heightened level of
energy and sense of future possibility. Often they then begin to function as an
intentional vehicle for an emerging future.
As the diagram illustrates, we move down one side of the U (connecting us to the
world that is outside of our institutionalbubble) to the bottom of the U (connecting
us to the world that emerges from within) and up the other side of the U (bringing
forth the new into the world).
On that journey, at the bottom of the U, lies an inner gate that requires us to drop
everything that isnt essential. This process of letting-go (of our old ego and self)
and letting-come (our highest future possibility: our Self) establishes a subtle
connection to a deeper source of knowing.
The essence of presencing is that these two selves our current self and our best
future Self meet at the bottom of the U and begin to listen and resonate with
each other.
Once a group crosses this threshold, nothing remains the same. Individual
members and the group as a whole begin to operate with a heightened level of
energy and sense of future possibility. Often they then begin to function as an
intentional vehicle for an emerging future.
Seven Theory U Leadership Capacities
The journey through the U develops seven essential leadership capacities.
(1) Holding the space of listening

The foundational capacity of the U is listening. Listening to others. Listening to

oneself. And listening to what emerges from the collective. Effective listening
requires the creation of open space in which others can contribute to the whole.
(2) Observing
The capacity to suspend the voice of judgment is key to moving from projection
to true observation.
(3) Sensing
The preparation for the experience at the bottom of the U [presencing] requires the
tuning of three instruments: the open mind, the open heart, and the open will. This
opening process is not passive but an active sensing together as a group. Whilean
open heart allows us to see a situation from the whole, the open will enables us to
begin to act from the emerging whole.
(4) Presencing
The capacity to connect to the deepest source of self and will allows the future to
emerge from the whole rather than froma smaller part or special interest group.
(5) Crystallizing
When a small group of key persons commits itself to the purpose and outcomes of a
project, the power of their intention creates an energy field that attracts people,
opportunities, and resources that make things happen. This core group functions as
a vehicle for the whole to manifest.
(6) Prototyping
Moving down the left side of the U requires the group to open up and deal with the
resistance of thought, emotion, and will; moving up the right side requires the
integration of thinking, feeling, and will in the context of practical applications and
learning by doing.
(7) Performing
A prominent violinist once said that he couldnt simply play his violin in Chartres
cathedral; he had to play the entire space, what he called the macro violin, in
order to do justice to both the space and the music.
Likewise, organizations need to perform at this macro level: they need to convene
the right sets of players (frontline people who are connected through the same
value chain) and to engage a social technology that allows a multi-stakeholder
gathering to shift from debating to co-creating the new.

Theory U - Personal observations...

In my view, what Scharmer is talking about here with his Theory U is a more
intuitive approach to leadership - and specifically in group leadership situations.

There is nothing new in the idea of a creative thought and action process based
around mental stillness, active listening, reflection, emergent intuitive ideas, and
driving an initiative through an iterative process of successive prototypes.
The world of IT has been doing this with the Rapid Application development [RAD]
methodology for years.
The appropriate balance of action/inaction has been familiar to practitioners of the
Tao, Zen and many other meditation techniques for centuries.
Some of the disciplines and processes he talks about will be alien to some - maybe
many - business people and his "soft", qualitative, quasi-spiritual language is offputting.
But the fundamentals of what he proposes in Theory U are not new - as far as I can
see. In my view, the originality may lie in applying this in a group context and a
business environment.
Taken from other perspectives it all makes sense. For example anyone involved in
the creative arts will employ some or most of these processes.
Neurologically this all about developing and using a "balanced brain" approach to
leadership. By that I mean allowing more use of the right brain faculties of lateral,
creative, and innovative thinking and less analysis, filtering and
judgement. [Edward deBono and others have covered this turf before with "lateral
thinking" and "six hats thinking" .]
From a scientific perspective we are into the realm of quantum physics and a
perspective of a universe that is comprised of pure energy: that "solid"
manifestations of matter "emerge" from the energy field of "infinite possibilities";
that thought [in whatever form] is energy and as such interacts, influences and
responds to that energy field of infinite possibilities. As per the well known
"observer effect" - where the act of observation influences the outcome of the
experiment.
Philosophically, we are into the realms of Buddhism in general, Zen in particular and
especially the practise of "mindfulness" - or "present moment awareness". [For
more on this see Eckhart Tolle - "The Power of Now"]
To put Theory U into practise in a business context requires a leader who is
comfortable with and capable of initiating this process, and a culture that is
receptive to it.
Use of language and terminology
By the nature of the subject matter of Theory U it is hard to articulate this stuff
without it sounding like some sort of religious or "belief based" experience. I wish
Scharmer expressed himself more in the reductionist terminology of the neurology
and physiology of his subject.
So for example, if we examine the following paragraph copied from the Theory U
summary above - I have highlighted what I regard as quasi spiritual phraseology
that is not part of conventional business vocabulary:

"On that journey, at the bottom of the U, lies an inner gate that requires us to
drop everything that isnt essential. This process of letting-go (of our old ego
and self and letting-come (our highest future possibility:our Self) establishes
a subtle connection to a deeper source of knowing."
This is a business site specialising in the leadership and management of change in
business and organisations, and these type or words are - at first sight - more
suited to the Zen Buddhist meditation hall. For a Buddhist or anyone involved in any
serious form of meditation practise - these are familiar concepts.
My concern is that our scepticism and cynicism may cause us to "filter out" what he
is trying to say in Theory U because this is unfamiliar territory to many us and
unfamiliar language.
Having got that off my chest I do have a strong intuitive sense that Theory U is
actually deeply significant and relevant to the leadership of transformational
change.
Consciousness and outcomes

Scharmer says that:

"...successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that
the leader brings to any situation.
Two leaders in the same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about
completely different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each
operates."
If we substitute the words "focus and purpose" for the words "attention and
intention" this becomes a more accessible idea. But do we really buy into the idea
that a leader's "focus and purpose" [or thoughts and energy] really can change
outcomes?

Do we buy into the idea that "how we are" [i.e. the sum of all the inexpressible and
intangible aspects of our make up as human being] actually affects events and outcomes
in the "external" world?