In a world where climate change is no longer a theory; where the planet's profits have increased in an unbelievable way, with a growing gap between the richest and the poorest; where natural resources such as fresh water, arable lands, fisheries, and forests are endangered; where the Internet has created a different dimension in communications and information; and where global population keeps growing at an exponential rate, future leaders will face serious challenges. In the modern world we have more but not necessary we are happier, healthier, or more peaceful. Rationality is not the only way of knowing the world and standardization is good for production but not for people. We are all different and unique.

Outward Bound has a great opportunity of touching the lives of thousands of kids and adults, and a big responsibility, too. How do we develop future leaders without teaching them the same paradigms that created our world?

At the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL), and MIT Sloan School of Management, Otto Scharmer and Peter Senge, senior lecturers from MIT, have developed a new approach to leadership that could be of relevance to our schools worldwide. It is called Theory U and its aim is to illuminate what they call the "blind spot of leadership". When an artist paints, we usually focus on the finished painting or on the process of painting. These are the "what" and the "how", but we seldom focus on the blank canvas before the creation begins. In leadership we know a lot about what leaders do, and the process they use, but we pay little attention to that internal place from which they operate. Looking at the inner source that lies beside rationality is quite revolutionary, especially coming from a top business school.

At Outward Bound we use experiential learning as the core methodology for our programs. When we use this methodology, we learn from experience. Actually we learn from past experiences, through Kolbs' cycle: experiencing, then reviewing and reflecting, then generalizing from experience in order to apply the learning and take action. This has proven to be a great tool, much more powerful than academic learning, and actually closer to the way we naturally learn.

Theory U offers a new possibility. In a fast-paced, changing world, it is not enough to learn from the past. Leaders need to develop the capacity to learn from the future. Theory U is about learning from the future through finding spaces of silence inside ourselves where we can connect with our white canvases, the inner source of knowledge. The truth is that Theory U is not new. Every artist, inventor, leader, and spiritual master knows, or has known, this. Anything that exists outside started inside before. Theory U is about connecting with ourselves and receiving non-rational and intuitive information and knowledge through a well-designed methodology for deep change.

Theory U is of great relevance to Outward Bound, since our groups of students have been brought to this inner place over and over. The Outward Bound magic is undeniable, but are we aware of how and why it happens? Thinking of the challenges of the future and trying to provide tools to young leaders for each challenge is giving them fish. Teaching future leaders to find themselves besides the stream of thoughts is teaching them how to fish. New world challenges will require new leaders, with a deeper connection to themselves, to others, and to nature. At Outward Bound we have all the tools to make this happen.