Reviews
The Deeper Dimensions of Transformational Change: A Call to Collective Inquiry and Action
by David I. Rome
This is a moving book of unexpected profundity. Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future (Society for Organizational Learning, 2004) represents a further evolution of many of the themes presented in Peter Senge's classic The Fifth Discipline and its sequels. Read more...
.......................................................................
Review: Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
By Kurt S. Takamine
Imagine you are sitting in a living room with Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline and The Dance of Change), C. Otto Scharmer (Helsinki School of Economics), Joseph Jaworski (Synchronicity: The Inner Path or Leadership), and Betty Sue Flowers (Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin) as they discuss topics such as “transformational change” and “deeper levels of learning.” In this conversation, the authors not only share current research in the field of organizational learning, but reveal their personal insights and frustrations as well. This is the setting for their book, Presence. Read More...
.......................................................................
Learn by Illuminating the Blind Spot
by Ime Aznar, Contributor, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Is it possible to bring into being profound collective changes that will lead to a shift in the way we understand, and create, the world as we know it? In Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future (published by the Society for Organizational Learning, 2004), authors Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers, affirm that it is indeed possible for global change to happen, and for people to learn to “access, individually and collectively, our deepest capacity to sense and shape the future.” Read more...
.......................................................................
Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski & Flowers. Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future
by Bill Godfrey
I spend a lot of time reading what could be called the more sophisticated end of general management literature and Presence is dramatically different in layout and approach from most of that literature. It is reflective and discursive, with a lot of forays into philosophical thinking and developments in scientific theory. Read more...
.......................................................................
The Spirit of Change
by Mark Gerzon
This article appeared in Shambhala Sun magazine, November 2004
What are we to make of a conversational book that discusses Ford Motor Company and Mahayana Buddhism, careens from management theory to meditation practice, tells stories about the Bank of America and ancient Chinese sages, chronicles corporate board retreats and shamanic vision quests and alludes to infrastructure and the infinite — and everything in between? Read more...
.......................................................................
Presence
by Robert Fritz
Peter Senge, Claus Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers have just released a remarkable book entitled Presence - Human Purpose and The Field of the Future.
The book is doing something quite original. Rather than the typical transference of information proclaimed from on high from esteemed author-experts, it's a look behind the curtain as the authors engage in an organic search for authentic insights and understanding in areas which do not easily lend themselves to understanding. Read more...
.......................................................................
Learning, Innovation and New Thinking in Organizations and Society
by Steen Hildebrandt , Professor at The Institute of Organization and Management, Aarhus School of Business, Denmark
This is a totally unique book. You could say that about all books, but there is a definite difference. This one is in a class of its own. Four of the world's leading management researchers and theorists have met each other regularly over a couple of years and talked about innovation, learning, leadership, and much more. They've thought, listened, asked, written, e-mailed and asked and interviewed others. Together they've produced a report, a journal, a pile of interview transcripts and a book. It's not an easy book. You can't write an easy book about change management, innovation and parts and wholes if you have a deep-seated respect for the fact that they are living systems. Read more...
.......................................................................
Review: A Double Bill with Peter Senge, et al.:
Society for Organizational Learning's Foundations for Leadership Program & Presencing
by Roumiana Gotseva-Yordanova
This article appeared in the July 2004 issue of Compass, The Journal of the >Association of Pro Futurists.
I was fortunate to attend the Society for Organizational Learning's Foundations for Leadership program, facilitated by Peter Senge and Robert Hanig in May this year, which started me off on a transformational sequence through the summer. Followed by Presence (Peter Senge, Otto C. Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers, SoL, March 2004), this double bill in personal and collective purposefulness and connectedness has been inspiring, insightful, and, I'd venture to say, life-changing. Read more...