Review of Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2005)
By Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers

Reviewed by: Kelsey Ebben, Performa Research Associate

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

As the challenges facing higher education administrators mount with each passing year, Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2005) reminds readers that organizational and societal change is always within our reach. In this book, Peter Senge, author of the groundbreaking The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990) teams up with organizational leadership theorists C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers to offer fresh thinking about leadership and organizational change via their "U-model" for the achievement of "presence."

The U-model represents a new thought process for leaders interested in creating change. The model is built on a belief that each person has a unique role in serving the "interconnected whole" of life on this planet. Once we begin to think and act as a part of that "interconnected whole," we find the possibilities for the future are endless. While the authors primarily use the model to help political and business leaders tackle major issues such as pollution and the global economy, they strongly recommend leaders at all levels adopt "U" thinking to improve their organizations.

The "U" model involves three steps: sensing, presencing, and realizing. Sensing requires suspension, which means learning to slow down, live in the moment, and quiet the mind. It also involves understanding the reality of our situation and how our own perspectives influence how we interpret the world. The second step is presencing, which means engaging in reflection in order to access our imaginative capacities and "inner knowing." Too often, we go "on autopilot" and engage in daily action without reflection. Presencing allows us to think about the special ways we fit into and can serve various wholes: our organization, society, and the natural world.

The authors recommend leaders blur their spiritual and professional identities as a means to grasp their true calling in the world. They draw from numerous world religions and ancient knowledge to exemplify humans' spiritual connectedness with nature and other humans, and connection to a larger purpose. The third step, realizing, involves taking action to make change a reality. This means seeing oneself as a part of the change: the leader is not a separate entity who acts from the outside to "change the organization," rather the leader evolves along with the larger forces of an interconnected world and takes into consideration the needs of others.

Throughout the book the authors provide stunning and inspiring personal stories, corporate case studies, and scientific findings that validate their call to "connectedness." They specifically cite examples of how presence can change organizations such as higher education institutions. The following five quotes have implications for higher education administrators:

• "Real governing ideas must be married to processes and norms that enable people to live the organization's values and purpose. That might mean, for instance, established ways that people can challenge executive actions effectively, embedded in a culture that both respects and continually challenges authority" (p. 169).
  • Since presence involves recognizing your connectedness with others, engage in dialogue and be open to others' ideas. Create an open and supportive environment so that people feel they are integral parts of the institutional "whole," working toward a common purpose and utilizing their unique talents. Finally, determine whether the institution is actually living out its mission and core values.
• "In its essence, prototyping [innovation] accesses and aligns the wisdom of our head, heart, and hands by forcing us to act before we've figured everything out and created a plan. A tenet of prototyping is acting on a concept before that concept is complete or perfect. People concerned about success often want to slow down and plan or take more time to become comfortable with a course of action - but that may be exactly when you need to act.If you're open, the larger environment will continually tell you what you need to learn" (pp. 147-8).
  • Once you recognize your unique role in creating change, challenge yourself to innovate without having all the facts. Let your action plan remain flexible as you go.
• "In practice, suspension requires patience and a willingness not to impose preestablished frameworks or mental models on what we are seeing. If we can simply observe without forming conclusions as to what our observations mean and allow ourselves to sit with all the seemingly unrelated bits and pieces of information we see, fresh ways to understand a situation can eventually emerge.The voice of judgment can stifle creativity for groups as surely as for individuals" (p. 31).
  • During meetings, allow all participants to share their ideas without immediate judgment or criticism. Try to understand their perspective and determine if/how their perspective aligns with yours.
• "This fragmentation is reflected in the rigid academic divisions...that thwart systemic understanding across boundaries. In fact, the further one advances in any scientific discipline, the more narrow it tends to become. This carries over into all fields in modern society, to the extent that what it means to be "an expert" today is knowing a lot about a little" (p. 190).
  • Find ways to bring together diverse groups on campus and encourage or reward cross-disciplinary learning. Use language that communicates the wholeness of the university, rather than viewing divisions and departments as separate.
• "The problem is the loss of balance between valuing what can be measured and what cannot, and becoming so dependent on quantitative measures that they displace judgment and learning. When this happens, you see managers 'driving' organizations to meet quantitative goals set at the top, with little serious effort to build new capacities required to achieve sustainable levels of improved performance" (p. 192).
  • Do not solely rely on quantitative "numbers" to direct your thoughts and actions. Take time to investigate the experiences of students, staff, and faculty, and seriously consider their perceptions and ideas.

Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2005) is an engaging and highly recommended book for all higher education administrators interested in harnessing their personal power and the power of relationships in order to create change. While the authors' focus on taking action for "the larger whole" sounds daunting, they state, "Serving the emerging whole means paying attention to what's right here within my awareness, what's completely local, and surrendering to what's being asked of me now" (p. 228). Through sensing, presencing, and realizing, we can be forces of change at our institutions. If enough individual administrators engage in meaningful reflection and deep learning, a major shift in American higher education could be on the horizon.