‘Theory U’ suggests shifting from a personal, individual-centered approach to a collective, group-centered one in order to move towards a regenerative society. It suggests we should get to “eco-system awareness”-driven forms of cooperation through a process known as the “journey of the U”. What follows is an application of Theory U to developing regenerative ecosystems, from Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies by Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer.

Theory U Framework

7 Leadership Capacities

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5 Stages of Regeneration

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Here are the 7 Capacities and 5 Stages of Theory U applied to regenerative ecosystem development.

Downloading: Degenerative Capacity

Downloading is defined as the status quo, extending the patterns of the past. As long as we operate from downloading, the world is frozen by our old mental habits and past experiences; nothing new enters our minds. Same old, same old.

The Three Divides

Like the tip of an iceberg, the symptoms of our current situation are only the visible and explicit parts of our current reality. This symptoms level is a whole landscape of issues and pathologies that constitute three “divides”:

  1. The Ecological Divide: We leave an ecological footprint of 1.5 planets; that is, we are currently using 50 percent more resources than our planet can regenerate
    1. Water
    2. Soil
    3. Climate
    4. Eco-Systems
  2. The Socioeconomic Divide: Two and a half billion people on our planet subsist on less than US$2 per day. In the United States, the top 1 percent has a greater collective worth than the entire bottom 90 percent.
    1. Hunger
    2. Poverty
    3. Inequality
  3. The Spiritual-Cultural Divide: This reflects a disconnect between self and Self—that is, between one’s current “self” and the emerging future “Self” that represents one’s greatest potential.
    1. Happiness and Well-Being
    2. Burning, Depression, Suicide

Journaling Questions

Circle Conversation

Seeing | Stage I: Co-Initiating

The moment we suspend our habitual judgment we wake up with fresh eyes. We notice what is new and see the world as a set of objects that are exterior to us, the observers.