As Einstein famously said, problems cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them. The U-process is a theoretical framework and hands-on map for engaging teams or whole organizations in a process that shifts both personal and collective perception and therefore action. The three stages of sensing, presencing, and realizing include practices for suspending assumptions, gaining fresh insights into root dynamics, and discovering key leverage points for positive change. The U process leads to "profound innovation" because it provides a systematic way of accessing the deeper journey of your own leadership as well as the emerging potential of your organization or community.

Based on Dr. Scharmer's ground-breaking Theory U, this session will be particularly relevant for leaders and teams looking for new, more effective ways of resolving complex challenges.

You are encouraged to attend with your team, so that the learning and the process can be sustained in your home context.

Post-program peer coaching groups will be organized according to interest.

The Kingbridge Centre is the venue and co-sponsor of this event.

Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT, the founding chair of the Presencing Institute, and a founding member of the MIT Green Hub. Dr. Scharmer has consulted with global companies, international institutions, and governments in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He has co-designed and delivered award-winning business leadership programs for client firms including Daimler, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fujitsu, and Google. He also facilitates cross-sector programs for leaders in business, government, and civil society that focus on building people's collective capacity to achieve profound innovation and change.

Scharmer holds a Ph.D. in economics and management from Witten-Herdecke University in Germany. He introduced the theoretical framework and practice called "presencing" in his book Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges (2007), and in Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (2005), co-authored with Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. With his colleagues, Dr. Scharmer has used presencing to facilitate profound innovation and change processes both within companies and across societal systems. More information about Dr. Scharmer and his work can be found at: www.presencing.com

In times when the status quo is often no longer an option, Dr. Scharmer's work has been hailed as an important breakthrough in the fields of leadership, innovation, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and organizational transformation.

Trained as a dancer, Arawana Hayashi's pioneering work as a choreographer, performer, and educator is rooted in improvisation, collaboration and traditional dance forms. After five years as director of an intercultural street dance company in Boston, Ms. Hayashi became Co-Director of the Dance Program at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She was involved in experimental inter-disciplinary performance work that became the foundation for the University's current degree programs in performance and somatic psychology. Ms. Hayashi's study of Bugaku, Japanese Court dance, began under Suenobu Togi and led to founding the Jo Ha Kyu Performance Group in Boston. There she continued to explore the creative process. She is currently an acharya (senior teacher) in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. She teaches workshops in The Art of Making a True Move for individuals and organizations throughout the U.S..

Ms. Hayashi has been on the core faculty of the Shambhala Summer Institute since 2001. She began a collaboration with Otto Scharmer there in 2003 and is now actively engaged with the Presencing Institute, where she is leading the development of Social Presencing Theater. See www.ArawanaHayashi.com

Jim Marsden is a member of the Presencing Institute community and a founder of Lean In, llc, an organization collaborating with clients to successfully engage personal, business or community transformation through high impact experiences. Prior to Lean In, llc, Jim led a variety of large and small scale organizational development initiatives within Hewlett Packard. With 19 years of experience at HP, he has worked across businesses, countries and cultures in a variety of roles including organizational development, business team management, strategic planning and marketing management. He has helped HP realize breakthroughs in innovation and related organizational transitions necessary for sustainable change.

Jim has a passion for the wilderness and guides quests for the Animas Valley Institute and co-leads other wilderness outings that help inform and deepen our understanding of ourselves and our relationship with nature. He currently resides in Boulder, Colorado.