Antioch New England: O&M Connections Newsletter

Cheryl Lower, Donna Mellen, and Stephanie Tickner, Editors	Summer 2007

Wake Up!

A Reflection on Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Sheryl Rapee-Adams
MS Candidate O&M

“There’s an old saying in Buddhism, ‘There’s nothing more difficult than changing yourself.’ ” (Presence, p. 216)

“The environmental movement is mostly focused on how we can be ‘less bad,’ how we can take or destroy less. But what if humans, as a species, actually have a purpose? What if we have something distinctive to contribute—something to give rather than just take?” (Presence, p. 238)

I read a book so engaging and relevant to our studies that I can imagine all Antioch students reading it. I first read Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society while in my second semester of Antioch’s master’s program in Organization & Management.

Presence (Currency/Doubleday, 2005) convincingly illustrates that “business as usual” will not serve today’s individual, organizational, and global needs. In promoting new ways of thinking and acting, the book’s message is far more powerful than, “It would be nice if...” Instead, the authors describe humanity at the crossroads. We could be moving toward a “requiem scenario” (destruction through conflict with our natural environment and with each other), or we could consciously alter the current path to create a sustainable world. The authors present a theory of learning and transformational change. They offer hope that such learning and change are possible.

Much of Presence contains conversations among its authors, Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers, who convey their individual and collective learning during the initiation and creation of this book. They share examples of change and learning from their own lives, from deeply personal experiences to their professional work with international governments and corporations. Their individual and group development reflects the very process they are exploring.

The authors offer the symbol of a U to represent a 3-part process: Sensing, Presencing, and Realizing. At the top left point where we enter the U, we are Sensing our internal and external reality. At the bottom curve of the U, Presencing occurs, which involves reflection that allows our deep knowing to emerge. At the top right point of the U, we act naturally, based on our deep knowing. When we gracefully step into the dance and influence the flow of reality in this way, we are Realizing.

The authors urge us to draw on the perspective of the U as we address society’s profound need for integrating individual, organizational, and systems awareness and practices:

Our interviews with leading scientists from diverse fields, combined with our own experiences, have led us to conclude that the movement through the U is inseparable from an unfolding revolution in the modern scientific worldview; indeed, the theory of the U and this revolution are based on an understanding of reality that differs fundamentally from the world of Newtonian billiard balls, where change arises from one object colliding with another, and the greater the force the greater the change. Just as the theory of electromagnetic fields, and, later, of quantum fields transformed the Newtonian worldview of isolated particles, this emerging science potentially transforms the particle nature of the isolated self.

Connectedness is the defining feature of the new worldview—connectedness as an organizing principle of the universe, connectedness between the “outer world” of manifest phenomena and the “inner world” of lived experience, and, ultimately, connectedness among people and between humans and the larger world. While philosophers and spiritual teachers have long spoken about connectedness, a scientific worldview of connectedness could have sweeping influence in “shifting the whole,” given the role of science and technology in the modern world. (p. 188)

This call for connectedness mirrors the astounding level of integration my cohort members and I observed within the content of our Antioch O&M program. During my second semester, I remember noting that Presence seemed to reiterate and expand on key themes from my courses thus far, especially Professional Seminar, Group Dynamics, Systems Theory and the Organizational Environment, Perspectives on Organizational Theory & Behavior, and Managing Knowledge & IT Resources. As I reread Presence in order to write this piece, I once again feel its connection with my Antioch studies.

In my fourth semester class, Change Models and Application, we studied the importance of mindset among leaders and others engaged in transformational change. In considering what not to do, we read of the Reactive Approach of leaders who fail to notice that their own thoughts and outlook influence the broader environment and who attempt to use formulaic methods to address complex situations. In Presence, I read:

Prototyping effectively requires cultivating a capacity to listen to the feedback that an initial effort elicits from the environment. Something that in retrospect was clearly preliminary and poorly conceived, at the time often seems like ‘the right idea.’ It’s easy to become attached to something that takes a lot of effort to create. Plus, being open to listen to what the environment is saying isn’t the same as reacting to every criticism as a failure to be corrected. Successful prototyping requires something in between the extremes of either ignoring feedback or overreacting to every disconfirming signal. (p. 152)

Presence speaks of science and technology, business and nonprofit organizations, individual and organizational learning, the need to know oneself in order to lead, and the critical need to fundamentally alter our worldview to create sustainability of organizations and the planet. The learning that this book facilitates would benefit anyone who cares about personal and professional development and anyone who wants to serve organizations and society. I feel it is especially relevant and rewarding material for Antioch students who chose this school for its departure from “business as usual.”