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

Presence?ÿis an intimate look at the development of a new theory about change and learning. In wide-ranging conversations held over a year and a half, organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers explored the nature of transformational changeƒ??how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. The book introduces the idea of ƒ??presenceƒ?ƒ??a concept?ÿborrowed from the natural world?ÿthat the whole is entirely present in any of its partsƒ??to the worlds of business, education, government, and leadership. Too often, the authors found, we remain stuck in old patterns of seeing and acting. 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.
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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,?ÿPresence?ÿis both revolutionary in its exploration and hopeful in its message.?ÿThis astonishing and completely original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense, and realize new possibilitiesƒ??in ourselves, in our institutions and organizations, and in society itself.