Otto Scharmer

Otto Scharmer
Otto Scharmer
Born	1961 (age 63–64)
Citizenship	Germany
Alma mater	Witten/Herdecke University
Known for	Theory U
Website	www.ottoscharmer.com

Otto Scharmer (born 1961) is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-founder of the Presencing Institute and its u-school for Transformation. anchored in the concept of presencing, a method of "learning from the emerging future", which he introduced in his books Theory U (2007) and Presence (2004, co-authored with Peter Senge and others).

Early life and education

Otto Scharmer was born and raised near Hamburg, Germany, where his experiences on his family's farm significantly influenced his future work. The principles of regenerative farming, as practiced by his father, laid the foundation for Scharmer's later concepts of social fields and systems change. Scharmer earned his diploma and PhD in economics from Witten/Herdecke University.

Career

Throughout his career, Scharmer has focused on cross-sector systems transformation, introducing the concept of presencing in his books Theory U (2007, 2nd edition 2016) and Presence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2004, co-authored with Peter Senge and others). In Leading from the Emerging Future (2013, co-authored with Katrin Kaufer), Scharmer explored the transition from egocentric to ecocentric economic systems, identifying key leverage points for systemic change.

Scharmer co-founded the MITx u-lab, a platform that has engaged over 250,000 participants from 186 countries in transformational learning and change initiatives. His work extends to designing action learning labs for UN agencies and SDG leadership labs for UN country teams in 26 countries, aiming to foster cross-sector collaboration in addressing global challenges. He serves as a consulting editor for the Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, a peer-reviewed platform focusing on the integration of research and practice in awareness-based systems change.

Awards and honors

He received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching at MIT (2015), and the EU Leonardo Corporate Learning Award for the contributions of Theory U to the future of management (2016). In 2017 he was ranked #1 of the world's top 30 education professionals by globalgurus.org.

Selected publications

• Senge, Peter M.; Scharmer, Claus Otto; Jaworski, Joseph; Flowers, Betty Sue (2004). Presence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (1st ed.). New York: Currency/Doubleday. ISBN 038551624X. OCLC 61257585.
• Scharmer, Otto; Käufer, Katrin (2013). Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies (1st ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. ISBN 9781605099262. OCLC 813920439.
• Scharmer, Claus Otto (2016) [2007]. Theory U: Leading from the Emerging Future. A BK business book (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. ISBN 9781626567986. OCLC 944179658.
• Scharmer, Claus Otto (2018). The Essentials of Theory U: Core Principles and Applications. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler. ISBN 9781523094400. OCLC 987657070.

External links

• "Presencing Institute". presencinginstitute.org.
• "u-school for Transformation by Presencing Institute". www.u-school.org.
• "Otto Scharmer". www.ottoscharmer.com.
• "Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change".