Summary
Theory U is a method for leading change that begins with how people pay attention. It comes from Otto Scharmer of MIT, in ‘Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges’ (2007), built on interviews with 150 practitioners and thinkers. He argues that leaders doing the same thing get different results “depending on the inner place from which each operates”, a blind spot in most thinking about change.
The U is the journey’s shape: down one side by observing and listening; a still point at the bottom he calls ‘presencing’ (presence plus sensing); up the other by testing the new in quick prototypes.
Rationale
Looking beneath what leaders do to the place they act from is our move too. But Scharmer seeks that source within; Part 1 finds dispositions held by surroundings that can “tug us back”.