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



cover_big.jpgPresence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers
2005 Currency Doubleday 0-385-51624-X


The central tenet of this book is the presentation of a new theory, the Theory of U, which consists of the three principles of Sensing, Presencing, and Realizing. As the authors move, disjointedly, through the book they expose the seven core capacities and activities they claim make up the three principles.
  • Suspending
  • Redirecting
  • Letting Go
  • Letting Come
  • Crystallizing
  • Prototyping
  • Institutionalizing

I have not read every change and organizational learning volume ever authored, and there is occasionally a quote or idea I do not recognize. But I have read enough on Buddhism, talked at length with enough Buddhists, and visited enough temples to recognize Buddhism when I see it. That’s what this is, wrapped in enough in modern quotes, cultural references, and soft-science to possibly confuse the uninitiated. But that’s what it is.

There are a number of unfounded assertions and unsupported propositions, such as author Betty Sue Flowers’ statement that “the economic myth we’ve been in for most of the past century isn’t serving us well either.” Such global indictments are not self-evident, and need to be supported. How does one claim that the incredible advances of the 20th century – in productivity, purchasing power, life span, health care, and leisure time for example – experienced by 100s of millions of people, in market-based economies, over a 100 year span of time is a myth?

If such claims are going to be taken as anything more than fanciful flights to La La Land you need to offer substantial support, including your criteria, your reference points, and whether there are any valid counter positions. This book never offers any of the above, providing only anecdotes and/or random quotes to support its global assertions. One such example – a regional health care system in Germany – offers a model for doctor-patient communication that only academics will find meaningful. The rest of us will find the demarcations rather trite. Doctors can talk to you about:

  • what is broken
  • why it’s broken
  • how your behavior may or may not contribute to the break
  • and then the fourth level, where they become your psychoanalyst, best friend, and spouse.

If you are not already getting levels 1-3 you should find a better doctor. How the authors get from level 3 to level 4 is beyond me, as is why they think this sort of relationship is something everyone wants.

This is just one of many examples of underlying assumptions the authors have made which have no basis in reality. Yet it’s difficult to argue with much of the book because it is so experiential. The authors – who are all highly intelligent, highly educated academics – genuinely feel they are on a journey of deep personal transformation. The book is rife with their emotive insights as they weave fragile webs of connectivity between tiny slivers of thought, philosophy, and (minimal) data.

But what the book ultimately proposes is far from original, and the authors’ conceit in claiming invention of a new metaphysics around the “Theory of U” is a sign that they have gone too far down the rabbit hole of academic delusion (usually brought on by infinitely deeper research into infinitely smaller ideas.)

The reality is there is nothing here with which to argue, nothing of substance with which to take issue. In the true spirit of the authors’ learnings, I’m not even sure this book exists. If you think Buddhism, or its myriad new-age variants, will save the world then you may find some value here, but you can find much better volumes with a little effort. If you are not already convinced of such things this book offers nothing that will change your mind.

I bought Presence based on a single, rave review by a weblog author and the credentials of the book’s four authors. Had I put in even a little effort to read the Amazon reviews before buying I would have saved myself $30. Still, I should have known better when the opening anecdote of the book is the story of a group cry at a South African management retreat. There is lots of crying in this book, like author Joseph Jaworski’s story of going to Baja, becoming one with a whale, returning to share the story with his three colleagues, and then having a good group cry over the profoundness of the moment. None of this was inherently bad, but it was quite disappointing. Do yourself a favor. Don’t buy books based on a single review of a biased (and we all are) weblog author. That is doubly true if the biased weblog author is me. You've been warned.