Presence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organisations and Society gives the reader an intimate look at the development of a new theory about change and learning. In wide-ranging conversations held 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. Radical and hopeful – Presence synthesises leading-edge thinking, first-hand knowledge and ancient wisdom to explore the living fields that connect us to one another, to life more broadly, and, potentially, to what is ‘seeking to emerge’.

Seven capacities underlie out ability to see, sense, and realise new possibilities. Developing these capacities accesses a deeper level of learning that is the key to creating change that serves the whole – ourselves, our organisations, and the communities of which we are a part.

Reviews

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
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
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
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
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