Scharmer’s Eco-System Approach fits After Capitalism

This semester in our Alternative Perspectives course at Houston Foresight, we ran into Otto Scharmer a couple of times, for his well-known concepts of Presencing and Theory U. Another of his perhaps lesser well-known works, Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System, is very relevant to our After Capitalism research. It uses Theory U as a framework, in which the early chapters are devoted to diagnosing the economic problems – In Theory U parlance travel down the left side of the U; and the latter chapters proposing solutions travel up the right side of the U.

I summarized the problems or left-hand side (see graphic) using what his eight disconnects, which are between:

1. the financial and real economy
2. the infinite growth imperative and the finite resources of Planet Earth
3. the Haves and the Have Nots
4. institutional leadership and people
5. gross domestic product (GDP) and well-being
6. governance and the voiceless in our systems
7. actual ownership forms and best societal use of property
8. technology and real societal needs

These were a nice addition to the ideas of decline in After Capitalism.

I summarized the solutions or right-hand side of journey (see graphic) through four stages he identified, culminating in the co-creative eco-system model:

• 1.0:  The state-centric model, characterized by coordination through hierarchy and control in a single-sector society. [traditional]
• 2.0: The free-market model, characterized by the rise of a second (private) sector and coordinated through the mechanisms of market and competition. [modern]
• 3.0 The social-market model, characterized by the rise of a third NGO sector and by negotiated coordination among organized interest groups [postmodern]
• 4.0: The co-creative eco-system model, characterized by the rise of a fourth sector that creates platforms and holds the space for cross-sector innovation that engages stakeholders from all sectors. [integral]

I would say we are moving out of the 2.0: The free-market model, and into the 3.0 social market model, which is a Horizon Two (H2) transition concept. The 4.0 co-creative ecosystem model is the fit with the Horizon Three (H3) transformation to After Capitalism.

You’ll note I added in what I think the driving values systems of each are (see Values Systems the Key to After Capitalism). Remember the values shift is form traditional to modern to postmodern to integral (some might recognizes the related colors of the Spiral: blue, orange, green, and yellow). This is not just curve-fitting. When you read the four stages, the match with the values types is pretty strong. I believe the values shifts is the most important change that needs to happen. Apparently Scharmer, with his model, agrees. – Andy Hines