Presence : Human Purpose and the Field of the Future - Softcover

Peter Senge

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857883551 ISBN 13: 9781857883558

Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2005

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

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. 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 SYNCHCRONICITY: 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.

Review

If you believe, as I do, that an organisation is ultimately a human community, then nothing is more important than how we sense our future and act to create it together. This is something all creative business leaders know yet have found almost impossible to talk about - until Presence. -- Rich Teerlink, CEO (retired), Harley-Davidson Presence represents a further evolution of many of the themes presented in Peter Senge's classic The Fifth Discipline and its sequels... This latest book takes a fresh, daring and deeply felt leap into a shift of awareness as a collective practice. -- David I. Rome, Senior Vice-President for Planning, Grayston Foundation At this turbulent juncture in human history, a whole new set of social innovations promises to shift humanity away from its destructive path towards a brighter planetary civilization. Presencing and its U process is one of the most profound. It provides all who want to change the world not only with profound hope, but with a systematic and effective way to birth a sustainable planetary society. -- Nicanor Perlas, Recipient of the 2003 Alternative Nobel Prize and the U.N. Environmental Program Global 500 Award A remarkable book, Presence is a journey from the present to an unknown future, a journey of exploration rather than dogma, and a journey toward a vision of humanity at its highest. Like a good documentary, Presence is a book with 'emotional truth,' a wonderful combination of intellectual and visceral experience. -- Robert Fritz, The Path of Least Resistance Presence is a timely and altogether important book. Drawing on a leading-edge understanding of human learning and awareness, it offers a simple but effective gateway to our capacity to become change agents of the future - in business, work and relationships. Finding our presence is finding the key to creative change and to our own future. -- Ken Wilber, A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business Politics, Science and Spirituality

Edition details

• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1857883551
• ISBN 13: 9781857883558
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304