Peter M. Senge is a Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He is also Founding Chair of the Society for Organizational
Learning (SoL), a global community of corporations, researchers, and
consultants dedicated to the "interdependent development of people and their
institutions." He is the author of the widely acclaimed book, The Fifth
Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization (1990) and, with
colleagues Charlotte Roberts, Rick Ross, Bryan Smith and Art Kleiner, co-author
of The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a
Learning Organization (1994) and a fieldbook The Dance of Change: The
Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (March, 1999), also
co-authored by George Roth. In September 2000, a new fieldbook on education
was published, the award winning Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline
Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education,
co-authored with Nelda Cambron-McCabe, Timothy Lucas, Bryan Smith, Janis
Dutton, and Art Kleiner.
His most recent book is Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future,
co-authored with Claus Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers,
and published in March 2004 by the Society for Organizational Learning.
Dr. Senge has lectured extensively throughout the world, translating the
abstract ideas of systems theory into tools for better understanding of
economic and organizational change. His areas of special interest focus on
decentralizing the role of leadership in organizations so as to enhance the
capacity of all people to work productively toward common goals. Dr. Senge's
work articulates a cornerstone position of human values in the workplace;
namely, that vision, purpose, reflectiveness, and systems thinking are
essential if organizations are to realize their potentials. He has worked with
leaders in business, education, health care and government.
The Fifth Discipline hit a nerve deep within the business and education
community by introducing the theory of learning organizations. Since its
publication, more than 750,000 copies have been sold. In 1997, Harvard
Business Review identified it as one of the seminal management books of the
past 75 years. Feature articles in Business Week, Fortune , Fast Company and
other leading business periodicals have highlighted the work of Dr. Senge and
his colleagues at MIT and SoL.
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (over 270,000 copies sold) was developed in
response to questions from readers of The Fifth Discipline who wanted more help
with tools, methods and practical experiences in developing enhanced learning
capabilities within their own companies. The Dance of Change is based on more
recent experiences of companies developing learning capabilities over many
years, and the strategies leaders develop to deal with the many challenges this
work entails. Dr. Senge has published articles in academic journals and the
business press on systems thinking in management.
The Journal of Business Strategy (September/October 1999) named Dr. Senge as
one of the 24 people who had the greatest influence on business strategy over
the last 100 years. The Financial Times (2000) named him as one of the world's
"top management gurus." Business Week (October 2001) listed Peter as one of The
Top (ten) Management Gurus.
Peter Senge received a B.S. in engineering from Stanford University, an M.S. in
social systems modeling and Ph.D. in management from MIT. He lives with his
wife and their two children in central Massachusetts.
