Otto Scharmer

Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, where for over two decades he has advanced cross-sector systems transformation. His groundbreaking work on “presencing” — learning from the emerging future — has redefined leadership thinking and practice worldwide.

He is the author of the bestselling books "Theory U" and "Leading from the Emerging Future," "Essentials of Theory U," and co-author (with Katrin Kaufer) of "Presencing: 7 Practices for Transforming Self, Society and Business."

Through initiatives such as the MITx u-lab, Otto has mobilized a community of over 260,000 participants from 197 countries and co-created Action Learning Labs for UN agencies and SDG Leadership Labs for UN Country Teams in 26 countries.

A member of the Club of Rome, and the Word Future Council, Otto’s current work centers on shifting “from social systems to social soil” — the inner sources of attention, intention, and agency that enable profound societal regeneration. Raised on a farm in northern Germany, his metaphor of cultivating the social soil bridges agriculture, consciousness, and systems change.

He holds a PhD in economics from Witten/Herdecke University and has received the Jamieson Prize for Teaching Excellence at MIT, the Leonardo Corporate Learning Award, and the Elevating Humanity Award from the Organizational Development Network.