u.school Transforming Business, Society, and Self sensing and actualizing the future as it emerges

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "u.school Transforming Business, Society, and Self sensing and actualizing the future as it emerges"

Austin Nichols
6 years ago
Views:

u.school Transforming Business, Society, and Self sensing and actualizing the future as it emerges An educational platform for leadership and change that addresses the three major divides of our

1 u.school Transforming Business, Society, and Self sensing and actualizing the future as it emerges An educational platform for leadership and change that addresses the three major divides of our time: the ecological divide (a disconnect between self and nature), the social divide (a disconnect between self and other), and the spiritual divide (a disconnect between self and self). The u.school is looking to leverage its existing assets to produce greater impact. We are looking for a small group of strategic partners to help us fund and develop the institutional conditions that will enable the u.school movement to reach its potential.

2 Today s challenges require leaders and change- makers to catalyze profound innovation. Individuals, groups, and organizations need to learn to engage both whole systems (in business, government, and civil society) and the whole self (intelligences of the head, heart, and hand). The u.school provides a platform that allows change- makers and leaders across sectors to collaboratively address the three divides by accessing their inner sources of knowing (mindfulness and presencing practices) and by developing practical solutions to real- world problems. What the u.school does Building on MIT s tradition of learning by doing, the u.school has been developed by action researchers at MIT and the Presencing Institute. The u.school is a global infrastructure of practice fields available to users a safe space where leaders and change- makers can prototype new solutions, new behaviors, and new mindsets across boundaries. The u.school weaves together three essential elements: (1) hands- on immersion Labs in global hot spots of innovation; (2) knowledge from frontline applications of mindfulness- based innovation technologies; and (3) online to offline (o2o) capacity- building mechanisms for collective innovation. Our work Over the past twenty years, researchers at MIT and the Presencing Institute have ground- tested the core elements of the u.school across the globe in Innovation Labs in Bhutan, Brazil, North America, Africa, and Europe; in multi- year cross- sector innovation journeys in China and Indonesia; and most recently, in partnership with MITx, linking this global network through a new type of Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) called U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self. This course moved the u.school from small beginnings to a global community of transformation: In the spring of 2015, 28,000 people registered for the prototype of the course. Eighty- eight percent of the participants rated their u.lab experience as either eye opening (52%) or life- changing (36%). Fueled by word- of- mouth from the prototype, 45,000 participants from 185 countries have registered for the second u.lab delivery (Sept. Dec. 2015). In addition, the u.school co- convenes or supports various large multi- stakeholder change efforts, including the Global Wellbeing Lab, Novos Urbanos (Sao Paolo region), transforming agriculture in Ethiopia, improving the maternal health system in Namibia, Sustainable Food Lab (in the Americas and Europe), IDEAS China, IDEAS Indonesia, as well as projects in the area of reinventing banking and finance (Global Alliance for Banking On Values; ICBC, China; GLS, Germany; Triodos, Holland).

3 Method & process One of the most important insights developed from the u.lab experiment is that it is possible to link two elements in a new way: (a) massive democratization of access to free education and knowledge, and (b) the activation of a deep learning cycle that combines a shift of awareness with concrete projects and local work. Given that MOOCs operate at a marginal cost that is close to zero, this blend offers unparalleled opportunities for impact on a large, regional, and global scale. This blended approach is facilitated by tested methods and processes such as Theory U. The U- process allows leaders and learners to sense and actualize emerging future possibilities by going through three main movements (figure): The essence of this process is a shift of awareness that enables individuals, groups, and organizations to move beyond patterns of the past and to step into their highest future possibilities. At the core of the U is a subtle moment of letting- go (of the old) and letting come (what wants to emerge). The u.lab and u.school take their names from this U- shaped movement and from emphasizing the invisible side of leading change: the inner place from which we operate: the sources of our emerging self and of our highest future possibility. By integrating the U- process and free access to ideas and education through the MOOC, we almost accidentally launched a globally distributed movement. It already includes hundreds of hubs a network of place- based, local communities of change around the world as well as thousands of case clinic groups that operate through peer- coaching circles. We are also seeing first examples of larger initiatives on a national scale. In Scotland, for example, we have helped establish hubs throughout the country, co- hosted by the government, that are working together to co- create the next wave of social innovation and societal renewal.

Vision and intention To bridge the world s three divides ecological, social, and spiritual we envision a global eco- system of hubs and communities that: (1) convene Innovation Labs that generate

4 Vision and intention To bridge the world s three divides ecological, social, and spiritual we envision a global eco- system of hubs and communities that: (1) convene Innovation Labs that generate global hot spots of systems change; (2) create knowledge for action that captures the inner and outer conditions that make these labs succeed; and (3) build collective leadership capacity mechanisms that seed, scale up, and sustain the change. A Call for Action After two decades of successfully prototyping projects based on these ideas in different parts of the world, we feel that the time has come to launch the u.school more intentionally. The next steps are to further build and integrate the following seven core elements: 1. Decentralized & global learning environments: Combine o2o learning environments (MOOCs) with peer- coaching, local hubs, and personal mindfulness practices. 2. Innovation Labs: Build Innovation Labs that address global challenges in new ways and that function as hosting sites for deep immersion journeys. 3. Mindfulness- based leadership technologies and practices. These are the foundational methods of the u.school approach that make it accessible to a broad audience. The presencing approach has been described in three books (by Otto Scharmer and co- authors) that have been translated into 15 languages and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. A related book, The Fifth Discipline (by Peter Senge), has sold millions of copies and influenced thinking about management across all cultures.

5 4. A global network of institutional innovation partners. Learners are challenged to develop practical solutions in specific communities. These real- world prototypes are guided by a global network of mentors and change- makers affiliated with many types of organizations, including: Novos Urbanos (Brazil), Adream (China), Synergos (New York and Cape Town), Eileen Fisher Foundation (New York), GIZ Global Leadership Academy (Germany), UID (United In Diversity, in Indonesia and China), and various partners in the Chinese government in Zheijiang. 5. A global eco- system of Hubs. Innovations happen in places. Hubs will focus on emerging opportunities and organize disciplines and tools around them. Innovation Hubs will look different in different places, but they will share several features: (a) a physical space that evokes the mindful simplicity of a Buddhist temple; (b) the hands- on creative atmosphere of an artistic community; (c) the high- tech equipment that connects them with a global web of co- sensing practices; (d) the clarity of a well- organized think tank; and (e) the functionality of avant- garde social presencing theater. Innovation Hubs could be replicated in cities, eco- systems, and urban and rural communities everywhere. 6. Individualized lifelong learning journeys: If the classroom is global, if the sensing and actualizing of our emerging future is the curriculum, and if the possible user base of the school is millions of people essentially, anyone who is interested in awakening, activating, and strengthening their capacity to be an entrepreneur from this deep place then the question is: Who will run such a complex and distributed eco- system? Who will design the curriculum? The answer is, you will. 7. Acupuncture Points. Our research on ego- to ecosystem economies identified eight systemic points of intervention ( acupuncture points ) that are critical for moving our current economic operating system (what we call an ego- system ) to a new logic of functioning that generates wellbeing for all (an eco- system). They are: Nature & Place: From depleting resources to cultivating eco- systems Labor & Work: From jobs to passionate entrepreneurship Money & Capital: From extractive to intentional Technologies: From system- centric to human- and eco- centric Leadership & Collaboration: From top- down to co- sensing and co- shaping the future Consumption & People- Power: From consumerism to wellbeing for all Health & Education: From institution and outcome- centric to people- and awareness- driven Coordination & Governance: From hierarchy and competition to ABC (Awareness- Based Collective Action).

6 u.school Assets Already in Place A global network of 45,000- plus change- makers in the u.lab A community of 2,000 graduates of introductory and advanced programs A network of master practitioners and co- facilitators A global eco- system of living examples that demonstrate the practical results of U- process prototypes (see matrix below) Tested and refined methods and tools that support deep innovation processes (see Institutional relationships, including with MIT, edx, leading companies and business entrepreneurs in North America and China, governments in both China and the West, global NGOs, and the global Impact Hub network, that uniquely position the u.school at the heart of an awakening global movement. What Is the Next Step in the Evolution of the u.school? The u.school is looking to leverage its existing assets to produce greater impact. We are looking for a small group of strategic partners to help us fund and develop the institutional conditions that will enable the u.school movement to reach its potential: 1. A Hub Ecology: a global network of highly interconnected regional u.school Hubs (physical places) as well as an eco- system of networked Hubs that collaborate in real time 2. Innovation Labs: Innovation Labs for all eight acupuncture points of economic and societal transformation (see matrix below) 3. Capacity- Building Mechanisms: new content for the o2o platform that u.lab hub communities will continue to use, update, and co- evolve. 4. Knowledge Creation: a core team that accelerates research output (such as a 2016 Fieldbook) and activities (such as a Systems Change Case Story Series co- sponsored by the Presencing Institute, MIT CoLab, BALLE, Eileen Fisher, etsy.org, and other partners). 5. Resource Mobilization: partner institutions with assets and resources such as web connectivity and physical space (where these are lacking) to give as many people as possible access to high- quality transformative learning environments offered by the u.school and its global network of partnering institutions and communities. Please contact us: Otto Scharmer: scharmer@mit.edu Dayna Cunningham: dayna@mit.edu Katrin Kaeufer: kaeufer@mit.edu

7 U.School Global Ecology Matrix Acupuncture Points: Innovations designed to reframe Regions Africa Asia- Pacific Latin America North America Europe Global Nature & Place: From depleting resources to cultivating eco- systems Labor & Work: From jobs to passionate entrepreneur- ship Money & Capital: From extractive to intentional Technologies From system- centric to human and eco- centric Leadership & Collaboration From top- down to co- sensing and co- shaping the future Consumption & people- power: From consumerism to wellbeing for all Health & Education: From institution and outcome- centric to people- and awareness- driven Coordination & Governance: From hierarchy and competition to ABC (Awareness- Based Collective Action) Ethiopia and Nigeria: agricultural transformation Southern Africa: Finance Innovation Lab Re- awakening Ubuntu: youth leaders in Africa Namibia: Maternal health transformation IDEAS Indonesia: capacity building for sustainability Workface China Maharashtra, India: Grassroot women s leadership program Indonesia: Transformation of BNI, an Indonesian bank China: ICBC XuetangX, u.lab China and Alibaba, China: leadership development China: Lakeside University India: Focus 50 IDEAS China u.school China A Dream China Reinventing education Colombia: Leadership development with Afro- and Indigenous leaders Sao Paolo region: Novos Urbanos, shifting consumption patterns Dia, creative teacher training in Mexico Costa Rica: Cross- sector innovation BALLE Institute for Mindful Agricult. Hawthorne Valley Assoc. Bronx: economic development through locally owned businesses Canada: Integrating Indigenous people into the economy MITx u.lab Etsy.org Eileen Fisher, USA Lenz, USA cross- organizational innovation USA: Kaiser Permanente Georgia Reads: Raising reading levels Belgium: WaterLab Biodynamic farming Netherlands: Triodos Bank Germany: GLS Bank Reinventing Money Scotland: #Ulabscot Ireland: Irish govt. dialogue with civil society WWF TNC TEEB for Oceans & Coasts Impact Hubs Global Alliance for Banking on Values edx.org Global Wellbeing Lab Transforming Society & the Economy MIT CoLab GIZ, German Government Synergos Institute, North America, Africa, Brazil

Co-create a system that strengthens the sources of wellbeing, both individually and collectively

Co-create a system that strengthens the sources of wellbeing, both individually and collectively Many people around the world are working on truly sustainable projects at both small and large scale. Positive