Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies (AGENCY/DISTRIBUTED) - Softcover

C. Otto Scharmer; Katrin Kaufer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1605099260 ISBN 13: 9781605099262

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc, 2013

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

"A watershed! An inspiring, practical weaving of the inner and outer dimensions of the systemic changes so many around the world are now working toward."
--Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management; Founding Chair, Society for Organizational Learning; and author of The Fifth Discipline

"Scharmer and Kaufer have succeeded in writing the book that has the potential to transform civilization from one based on a rapacious, ego-driven economics to a viable, ecological, awareness-based model. This is a must-read for anyone who cares. It may well be the single most important book you ever read."
--Arthur Zajonc, President, Mind and Life Institute, and author of Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry

"Scharmer and Kaufer provide a creative and practical approach to shifting our economies. I see business as a movement, and this book shares that movement with the world, offering us inspiration to tap into the deeper levels of our humanity and urging us to transform the crises of our times."
--Eileen Fisher, founder, Eileen Fisher, Inc.

"The shift to an eco-system economy is emerging everywhere around us. Otto's and Katrin's clarity in identifying that this shift requires change-makers to expand our thinking from the head to the heart has helped me to be more intentional in designing processes to awaken the hearts of entrepreneurs everywhere. This is a necessary condition for the emergence of the new economy."
--Michelle Long, Executive Director, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies

"The purpose of business is to enhance the well-being of society. The 4.0 framework for transforming capitalism matters because it addresses a blind spot in our current discourse: how to create institutional innovations that could shift our economy from ego- to eco-system awareness at the scale of the whole."
--Guilherme Peirao Leal, founder and Cochairman, Natura Cosmeticos

About the Author:

Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, the founding chair of the Presencing Institute, and a founding member of the MIT Green Hub. Scharmer has consulted with global companies, international institutions, and governments in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and with client firms including Daimler, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fujitsu, and Google. He is the author of Theory U and a coauthor of Presence. Author Residence: Arlington, MA

Dr. Katrin Kaufer is a founding member and research director at the Presencing Institute, and Fellow at the Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) at MIT s Department of Urban Studies and Planning She has consulted with mid-sized and global companies, non-profit organizations, the World Bank and with the United Nations Development Program in New York. Author Residence: Arlington, MA

About this edition

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1605099260
• ISBN 13: 9781605099262
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312