Otto Scharmer, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founding chairman of the Presencing Institute.

He is the author of Theory U: Leading From the Future as it Emerges and coauthor of Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future and Leading From the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies.

Scharmer cofounded the Global Wellbeing and Gross National Happiness Lab, which links innovators from Bhutan, Brazil, India, Europe, and the United States to innovate beyond the traditional Gross Domestic Product measure of economic well-being.

Scharmer has worked with governments in Africa, Asia, and Europe and has delivered award-winning leadership and innovation programs for several private companies, including Daimler, Eileen Fisher, PriceWaterhouse, Fujitsu, Google, and Natura. He also is a vice-chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on New Leadership Models.

Scharmer introduced the concept of “presencing,” or learning from the emerging future, in his best-selling books Theory U and Presence, the latter of which he coauthored with Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. Both books have been translated into 15 languages.