Theory U: Leading from the Emerging Future
On the Surface: Symptoms of Death and Rebirth
We move from the toppling of tyrants to an exploration of the deeper fault lines that keep generating the disruptive changes of our time. We also look at these disruptive events from the viewpoint of changemakers: In the face of disruption, what determines whether we end up in moments of madness or mindfulness?
Journaling Questions
Take a journal (or blank piece of paper) and write your responses to the questions below. Spend no more than one to two minutes answering each question. Number your responses.
- Where do you experience your ecosystem that is dying (in society, in your organization, in yourself)?
- Where do you experience your ecosystem that is waiting to be born (in society, in your organization, in yourself)?
- Where have you experienced moments of disruption? And what did you notice about your own process of presencing or absencing?
- How do the ecological, socioeconomic, and spiritual-cultural divides show up in your personal experiences?
Circle Conversation
Assemble a circle of five to seven individuals and hold a first meeting to share the context that each person brings to the circle. Respond to the following:
- Introduce your personal story with one or two formative experiences that shaped the person you are.
- Where do you experience your ecosystem that is ending/dying, and where do you experience your ecosystem that is beginning/wanting to be born?
- What do you consider to be the root causes and issues of our current crisis and the three divides?
- What do you personally feel is going to happen over the next year? The next one to five years?
- What would you like to do right now in order to make a difference going forward?
Structure: Systemic Disconnects
What are the structural issues that lead us to reenact patterns of the past and not connect to what is emerging? What is the underlying blind spot that, if illuminated, could help us to see the hidden structures below the waterline?
| The Challenge-Response Model of Economic Evolution | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary societal challenge | Response: coordination mechanism | Primary sector/players | Primary source of power | Dominant ideology | Primary state of consciousness | |
| Society 1.0: State-Driven, Mercantilism, Socialism | Stability | Commanding; hierarchy | State/government | Coercive (sticks) | Mercantilism; socialism (state-centric thought) | Traditional awareness |
| Society 2.0: Free-Market-Driven, Laissez-Faire | Growth | Competing: markets | Capital/business: state/government | Remunerative (carrots) | Neoliberal and neoclassic (market-centric thought) | Ego-system awareness |
| Society 3.0: Stakeholder-Driven, Social-Market Economy | Negative domestic externalities | Negotiation: stakeholder dialogue | Civil society/NGOs; capital/business; state/government | Normative (values) | Social democratic or progressive thought | Stakeholder awareness |
| Society 4.0: Eco-System Driven, Co-Creative Economy | Global disruptive externalities, resilience | Presencing: awareness-based collective action (ABC) | Cross-sector co-creation; civil society/NGOs; capital/business; state/government | Awareness: actions that arise from seeing the emerging whole | Eco-system-centric thought | Eco-system awareness |