Research Highlights

Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges
Otto Scharmer

What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention — both individually and collectively — is key to what we create. What often prevents us from “attending” is what Scharmer calls our “blind spot,” the inner place from which each of us operates. Learning to become aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes needed in business and society. By moving through the “U” process we learn to connect to our essential Self in the realm of presencing — a term that combines the present with sensing.

The 4-Player Model: A Framework for Healthy Teams
Borrowing from groundbreaking sociology research — Kantor and Lehr's 1975 four-player model of the action patterns in human and family systems — leads researchers to propose a more positive, systems approach to team theory by viewing teams as living systems capable of extraordinary results.

Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty
Deborah G. Ancona

Leadership is not solely the responsibility of the CEO, but can and should permeate all levels of the organization. This principle is fundamental to the 4 Capabilities Leadership Framework.

The New World of Work
Thomas W. Malone

For the first time in human history, we can have the economic and scale efficiencies of large organizations as well as the human benefits of small ones: freedom, motivation, creativity and flexibility.

X-Teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed
Deborah G. Ancona and Henrik Bresman

Teams can work well on the inside and still not deliver results. X-teams pull together external and internal input to give organizations an infusion of new thinking.

Making a Difference by Making Sense

Leaders learn to compete, survive and change by first understanding the context in which an organization and its people operate.

Jazz Inspired: Manage Change by Improvising
Wanda J. Orlikowski

Change does not always lend itself to well-rehearsed orchestration. The organizations most responsive to change are often the ones that replace the orchestral model with a new one — the jazz combo.

For more research from the MIT Leadership Center’s renowned faculty, see Faculty Publications.