There is a happy synchronicity between my ideas on Presence and the book Presence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organisations and Society by four joint authors including Peter Senge. I first came across Senge’s earlier book The Fifth Discipline, which I reviewed in the 1990’s for the journal Long Range Planning. This inspirational book brought a spiritual perspective to the emerging field of organisational learning, and was widely read. Senge has published a number of books since then, which I have not seen, being somewhat out of touch in this area.
I was intrigued to discover Presence, first published in 2005, so it is already over ten years old. Senge’s co-authors were all active in the field of fundamental organisational change, with impressive credentials – Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers.
I can't believe it! 