Leading from the Emerging Future

In this mind-opening new book, bestselling author Otto Scharmer (Theory U, 40,000 copies sold) and Katrin Kaufer reveal the root cause of the economic, social, ecological, political, spiritual, and institutional crises today and detail seven new practices for revolutionizing and revamping society and growth.

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: Breathing Life into a Dying System
• 1. On the Surface: Symptoms of Death and Rebirth
• 2. Structure: Systemic Disconnects
• 3. Transforming Thought: The Matrix of Economic Evolution
• 4. Source: Connecting to Intention and Awareness
• 5. Leading the Personal Inversion: From Me to We
• 6. Leading the Relational Inversion: From Ego to Eco
• 7. Leading the Institutional Inversion: Toward Eco-System Economies
• 8. Leading from the Emerging Future: Now
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors
• About the Presencing Institute

“A watershed! An inspiring, practical weaving of the inner and outer dimensions of the systemic changes so many around the world are now working toward.”
-Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management; Founding Chair, Society for Organizational Learning; and author of The Fifth Discipline

“Scharmer and Kaufer have succeeded in writing the book that has the potential to transform civilization from one based on a rapacious, ego-driven economics to a viable, ecological, awareness-based model. This is a must-read for anyone who cares. It may well be the single most important book you ever read.”
-Arthur Zajonc, President, Mind and Life Institute, and author of Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry

“Scharmer and Kaufer provide a creative and practical approach to shifting our economies. I see business as a movement, and this book shares that movement with the world, offering us inspiration to tap into the deeper levels of our humanity and urging us to transform the crises of our times.”
-Eileen Fisher, founder, Eileen Fisher, Inc.

“The shift to an eco-system economy is emerging everywhere around us. Otto's and Katrin's clarity in identifying that this shift requires change-makers to expand our thinking from the head to the heart has helped me to be more intentional in designing processes to awaken the hearts of entrepreneurs everywhere. This is a necessary condition for the emergence of the new economy.”
-Michelle Long, Executive Director, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies

“The purpose of business is to enhance the well-being of society. The 4.0 framework for transforming capitalism matters because it addresses a blind spot in our current discourse: how to create institutional innovations that could shift our economy from ego- to eco-system awareness at the scale of the whole.”
-Guilherme Peirão Leal, founder and Cochairman, Natura Cosméticos