Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future Leading to Shape the Future: Scharmer’s Theory U
Guest: Otto Scharmer
In times of disruption, new strategies are not enough. According to Otto Scharmer, what determines the success of an intervention is the leader's interior condition.
In this episode, Maureen Metcalf sits down with Otto Scharmer, Senior Lecturer at MIT and co-founder of the Presencing Institute, to explore the principles behind Theory U and why traditional change management tools fall short in today’s environment.
Together they examine:
- Why disruption exposes the limits of analytical leadership
- The gap between traditional change management and emerging realities
- The four levels of listening — and how they transform decision-making
- The role of empathy, courage, and “open will” in executive leadership
- How leaders can create holding spaces that elevate performance and trust, and
- Why leadership failure often begins with a disconnect from reality.
Scharmer challenges leaders to move beyond reacting to the past, and instead learn to sense and shape emerging future possibilities. This conversation bridges philosophy, systems thinking, and practical application, offering tools leaders can use immediately in their organizations.
If you’re leading through uncertainty, this episode offers both clarity and direction.
Produced in association with the International Leadership Association: https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/ .
Other episodes you'll enjoy:
- Leadership at the Edge of Uncertainty with Helle Bank Jorgensen
- The End of Stability: Leading in a Disrupted World with Bob Bush, Jr.
- Leaders Need More Values with George Limbert
For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn. We’re on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Twitter, too!
RESOURCES:
Otto’s landmark book is The Essentials of Theory U; it’s available in paperback at https://amzn.to/4aA4N4v, and as an audiobook at https://amzn.to/4tH38mu.
You can also learn more about Otto on his website at https://ottoscharmer.com/, or through his nonprofit at https://www.presencing.org/.
Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.
Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. The Kindle version is available at https://amzn.to/44buVz8 .You’ll find further details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI. Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.
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OUR PODCAST TEAM:
Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf
Editor & Executive Producer: Dan Mushalko
Graphics Editor: Stacia Rogan
Sponsorship Sales: Kristine Gross (KGross@innovativeleadership.com)
CONNECT WITH US:
YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ILI-LinkedIn2
Website: InnovativeLeadershipInstitute.com
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About Our Guest:
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 co-founded the MITx u-lab, which has activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 260,000 users from 194 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.