PRESENCING:
7 Practices for Transforming Self, Society, and Business
Co-authored by Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer, this groundbreaking guide offers 7 transformative practices to catalyze multi-system change and planetary healing. Blending proven frameworks like Social Fields with real-world stories of global change-makers, it provides a powerful pathway to collective transformation.
Amid today’s crises, small "islands of coherence" are paving the way for a new planetary movement. Learn how to unlock generative listening, presencing, and ecosystem leadership to co-create a future of unity and flourishing. Your local actions can ripple outward to inspire global change—be part of the next renaissance.
VIDEOS
Keynotes and Conversations with Otto Scharmer
Stay Updated:
Otto's Publications & Events
We won't send regular newsletters, but you'll be the first to know about Otto's latest articles, blog posts, and events he's participating in.
Articles and Blog Posts
Universities as Innovation Ecologies for Human & Planetary Flourishing
This article reimagines universities as living ecologies that can foster human and planetary flourishing. It calls for a shift from knowledge transmission to transformation literacy—empowering learners to navigate complexity, regenerate communities, and co-shape a just and sustainable future.
Entering 2025: Meeting the Future In the Moment. What is Ours to Do?
This reflection explores how the widespread “illusion of insignificance” can disconnect us from our capacity to shape the future. It calls for reconnecting attention, intention, and agency to cultivate resilience and transformation—through what the author describes as “small islands of coherence” that anchor collective awareness and purpose in turbulent times.
A farmer who puts his hand to the plow must look forward
A heartfelt tribute to Dieter Scharmer, Otto's father, who transformed a centuries-old farm into a beacon of regenerative agriculture and shared leadership. Discover the timeless lessons from his life's journey—rooted in resilience, community, and the profound connection between cultivating the soil and the human spirit.
An Emerging Third Option: Reclaiming Democracy from Dark Money & Dark Tech
An exploration of how dark money and dark tech undermine democracy, the need for systemic change through awareness-based approaches, and the role of islands of coherence and ecosystem leadership in shaping a regenerative future.
Indonesia’s Role in an Emerging New Global Political Order
Leading Systems Transformation with Indonesia's President Prabowo: Observations on Integration, Self-Reliance, and a Multipolar World.
This article reflects on inclusive leadership, emerging political axes around self-reliance versus neoliberalism, and advocating for non-aligned, peaceful approaches in global geopolitics.
Listening the New Into Being
Explore how communities transform challenges into regenerative actions in Otto Scharmer's latest blog, "From Collapse to Regeneration: 5 Micro Stories of Transformation That Are Shaping Tomorrow." Discover the profound impact of collaborative efforts across global landscapes.
Fourth Person: The Knowing of the Field
In a time of systemic collapse and polycrisis, the main challenge is a pervasive sense of collective depression and helplessness. Otto Scharmer and Eva Pomeroy paper introduce "fourth-person knowing," transcending traditional first-, second-, and third-person approaches that underpin current learning and leadership systems. This new epistemological framework aims to enrich research methodologies, facilitating deeper connections and actions aligned with emerging global patterns.
Earth4All Deep Dive Paper: The System Within
The system within: Addressing the inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation.
This paper highlights the overlooked inner dimension of system change, and offers systems thinkers the language to advocate for psychological, social and spiritual factors crucial to sustainable solutions.
Transforming Our Economies from Ego To Eco
As part of the Earth4All project, collaborators have submitted deep-dive papers to delve further into the issues and solutions needed to transform our economic system and provide an equitable future for all on a finite planet. This paper explores how to transform the 21st-century economic system to become more just and sustainable. Otto Scharmer argues for the need to create a learning infrastructure to make this transformation possible.
Vertical Literacy: Reimagining the 21st-Century University
In a world where climate strikes and social movements are capturing the collective imagination, the question of how educational institutions can foster meaningful change has become increasingly urgent. Otto Scharmer delves into the evolving responsibilities of universities, exploring how they can move beyond being mere knowledge factories to become catalysts for transformative societal shifts. By examining the limitations of our current educational paradigms, he offers a groundbreaking perspective on bridging the 'knowing-doing' gap that hampers global progress.
An Apple Shows Just How Broken Our Food System Is
The food we consume has a hidden story, one that Otto Scharmer reveals has dire implications for both our health and our planet. Delving into a new study on the environmental and health costs of conventionally grown apples, Scharmer exposes the true price we pay for our modern agricultural practices. From pesticide use to monocultures, this blog post invites us to reconsider the larger systems that our daily food choices perpetuate, raising urgent questions about sustainability, health, and the real costs lurking behind what we eat.
Transforming Capitalism: 7 Acupuncture Points
In today's rapidly evolving world, there is a pressing need to address the disconnect between existing economic models and the real-world challenges they claim to solve. The concept of transforming capitalism isn't just a theoretical idea; it has become a necessary undertaking to address the social, ecological, and spiritual divides widening in our society. This blog post explores the landscape of economic transformation, identifying key leverage points that could radically update our current systems and shift our focus from a self-centered "ego-system" to a life-centered "eco-system."