Presence is 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 change--how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it
offers a world dangerously out of balance. The book introduces the idea
of "presence"--a concept borrowed from the natural world that the whole
is entirely present in any of its parts--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.
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, Presence is both revolutionary in its
exploration and hopeful in its message. This astonishing and completely
original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our
ability to see, sense, and realize new possibilities--in ourselves, in
our institutions and organizations, and in society itself.
