About Otto

Activating Awarness-Based Systems Change

Otto Scharmer, author of Theory U, and co-author of Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies, is an action researcher who co-creates innovations in learning and leadership that he delivers through classes and programs at MIT, MITx u-lab, the Presencing Institute, the u-school for Transformation, and through interventions with institutions in business, government and civil society around the world.

Otto Scharmer, a Senior Lecturer at MIT and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, has dedicated the past 20 years to helping leaders embrace cross-sector systems transformation. 

Through his bestselling books Theory U and Presence (the latter co-authored with Peter Senge and others), Otto introduced the groundbreaking concept of "presencing" — learning from the emerging future. He also co-authored Leading from the Emerging Future, which outlines eight acupuncture points for transforming our economy from egocentric to ecocentric. His most recent book The Essentials of Theory U (2018) summarizes the core principles and applications of awareness-based systems change. 

He co-founded the MITx u-lab, which has activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 250,000 users from 186 countries. In collaboration with colleagues, he co-created global Action Learning Labs for UN agencies and SDG Leadership Labs for UN Country Teams in 26 countries, which support cross-sector initiatives for addressing urgent humanitarian crises.  

Born and raised near Hamburg, Germany, Otto’s early experiences on his family farm profoundly shaped his vision. From his father, a pioneer of regenerative farming, Otto learned the significance of the living quality of the soil in organic agriculture, which inspired his thinking about social fields as the grounding condition from which visible transformations emerge. Like a good farmer who cares for the soil, Otto believes responsible leaders must nurture the social field in which they operate. He emphasizes that shifting our economic operating systems from extractive to regenerative requires innovations in leadership support structures for shifting mindsets from ego to eco. Building that infrastructure is the purpose of the u-school for Transformation. 

Otto earned his diploma and his PhD in economics from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He is a member of the UN Learning Advisory Council for the 2030 Agenda, the Club of Rome and the World Future Council. He has won the Jamieson Prize for Teaching Excellence at MIT and the European Leonardo Corporate Learning Award. In 2021, he received the Elevating Humanity Award from the Organizational Development Network. 

Member

UN Learning Advisory Council
for the 2030 Agenda
World Future Council


Club of Rome

Awards

2023: ILA 2023 Listener of the Year Award

Otto Scharmer was awarded The ILA 2023 Listener of the Year Award by the International Listening Association. This award recognizes both Otto's and the Presencing Institute's contribution to the global body of knowledge of listening through Theory U, the concept of presencing and the bestselling books that have brought this understanding to a worldwide audience. The powerful way Theory U has brought awareness of the importance of listening presence to the business world, was particularly noted.

2021: Award for “Elevating Humankind”

Otto Scharmer is the inaugural recipient of the Elevating Humanity Award from the Organization Development (OD) Network. Scharmer is credited with directly inspiring this new annual award by championing the Organization Development “countermovement” against the traditional profit-centric management approach, “bringing humanity back into focus” with his book Theory U and, as co-founder of the Presencing Institute, “elevating humankind on a global scale through the Presencing Institute’s collective effort to help oppressed, marginalized, impoverished, and fractured populations” (Professor Bill Brendel, OD Network Board Trustee). More information on the impact of Scharmer’s work can be found in the award announcement in this OD Network News article.  

2016: Leonardo Award

Otto Scharmer has received the Leonardo Award 2016 in Thought Leadership, a Leonardo European Corporate Learning Award addressing the “future of learning.” The award recognizes the value and contribution of Scharmer’s management method “Theory U.” More information on the impact of Scharmer’s work can be found in the award announcement in this article.

2015: Jamieson Prize

Otto Scharmer and Dimitris Bertsimas were each awarded the 2015 Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching, established to honor educational innovation and excellence. The Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching Award is the most prestigious teaching prize offered by the School. The award was established in 2006 and is awarded each year to two MIT Sloan faculty members, as well as two electrical engineering and computer science faculty members, for their contributions to educational excellence at MIT. You can read the article here.

Books

The Essentials of

Theory U:

Core Principles and Applications

C. Otto Scharmer

2018

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The Essentials of

Theory U:

Core Principles and Applications

C. Otto Scharmer

2018 

A useful pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Otto Scharmer’s seminal texts Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future.


A short handbook that focuses on the core principles of Theory U, the key movements that makes the process of Theory U, and social applications, to be used as an introduction to work in the field of Presencing.

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Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

C. Otto Scharmer

2nd Edition, 2016

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Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

C. Otto Scharmer 

2nd Edition, 2016

In this ground-breaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways. What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention – both individually and collectively – is key to what we create. What often prevents us from “attending” is what Scharmer calls our “blind spot,” the inner place from which each of us operates. Learning to become aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business and society today.

By moving through the “U” process we learn to connect to our essential Self, see our own blind spot and pay attention in a way that allows us to experience the opening of our minds, our hearts, and our wills. This wholistic opening constitutes a shift in awareness that allows us to learn from the future as it emerges, and to realize that future in the world.

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Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economics

C. Otto Scharmer and

Katrin Kaufer

2013

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Leading from the Emerging Future:

From Ego-System to Eco-System Economics

C. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer

2nd Edition, 2013 

We have entered an age of disruption. Financial collapse, climate change, resource depletion, and a growing gap between rich and poor are but a few of the signs. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer ask, why do we collectively create results nobody wants? Meeting the challenges of this century requires updating our economic logic and operating system from an obsolete “ego-system” focused entirely on the well-being of oneself to an eco-system awareness that emphasizes the well-being of the whole.

Filled with real-world examples, this thought-provoking guide presents proven practices for building a new economy that is more resilient, intentional, inclusive, and aware.

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Presence:

An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer,

Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers

2004

Organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty S. Flowers explored the nature of transformational change – how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. 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 revolutionary and original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense and realize new possibilities in ourselves, in institutions and organizations, and in society itself.

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Presence:

An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, andBetty Sue Flowers

2004

READ MORE

Presence:

An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer,

Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers

2004

Organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty S. Flowers explored the nature of transformational change – how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. 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 revolutionary and original work goes on to define the capabilities that underlie our ability to see, sense and realize new possibilities in ourselves, in institutions and organizations, and in society itself.

BUY NOW