Presence

Radical and hopeful – Presence synthesises cutting-edge thinking, firsthand knowledge and ancient wisdom Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future gives the reader an intimate look at the development of a new theory about change and learning. A book built around a series of wide-ranging conversations over a year and a half, Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, and Flowers explore their own experiences and those of one hundred and fifty scientists and social and business entrepreneurs in an effort to explain how profound collective change occurs. Their journey of discovery articulates a new way of seeing the world, and of understanding our part in creating it – as it is and as it might be. Presence explores the living fields that connect us to one another, to life more broadly, and, potentially, to what is “seeking to emerge.” Seven capacities underlie our ability to see, sense, and realize new possibilities. Developing these capacities accesses a deeper level of learning that is the key to creating change that services the whole – ourselves, our organizations and the communities of which we are a part.

Author Biography

Peter Senge is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, and the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning. He is the author of the widely acclaimed Fifth Discipline series. Senge is globally recognized as one of the most innovative thinkers about management and leadership, translating the abstract ideas of systems theory into tools for better understanding economic and organizational change. His work today focuses on fostering collaboration among diverse business, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations in order to address long-term systemic change that is beyond the reach of individual organizations. C. Otto Scharmer is a lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Visiting Professor at the Helsinki School of Economics and an international action researcher. Joseph Jaworski is the chairman of Generon Consulting, cofounder of the Global Leadership Initiative, and author of the critically acclaimed Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership. Betty Sue Flowers is the director of the Johnson Presidential Library and Museum having previously held a professorship of English at the University of Texas. SoL (The Society for Organizational Learning, Inc.) an outgrowth of the former MIT Center for Organizational Learning, is a nonprofit international membership organization that connects researchers, organizations, and consultants in over thirty countries in building knowledge for systemic change.