The knowing-doing gap and how not to sink in it

Knowledge is what educational institutions do, and knowledge is important. What we are facing in our time of global disruption, though, is not a lack of knowledge, but rather the inability to turn that knowledge into the change we need to see in the world.

In his rousing presentation at the Aalto University Green Minds, Healthy Hearts – Social Sustainability Symposium held in May, Dr. Otto Scharmer (MIT)proposed a radical change in focus for all educators – shifting from knowledge to deeper sensing capacities.

In his Theory U, developed to facilitate systemic transformations, Scharmer suggests that change requires an ability to sense and presence the emerging future with very little by way of knowledge. Instead, we need to cultivate our skills of deep listening and self-reflection. These skills allow us to connect to the emerging future and welcome a shift in ourselves and our identities.

This transformational learning is crucial for generating change on both individual and systemic levels, but it doesn’t happen by itself. What higher education needs to offer students is infrastructure to support the cultivation of the skills that are needed to achieve it. This means striving for an ecosystem-centric model where education is seen as a means of co-creating the future.

The knowing-doing gap cannot be filled solely with knowledge. We don’t need professionals who can merely generate data and deal with what’s here and now. We need professionals who can harness their intuition and embodied knowing to reach towards the unknown future with open hearts, open minds and open will.

 As educators and future professionals, we hold the key.

To learn more about eco-system awareness, deep listening and how to change the behaviour, watch the full recording of Dr. Scharmer’s presentation Leading from the Emerging Future at the Aalto University Green Minds, Healthy Hearts – Social Sustainability Symposium, which took place on the 30th of May 2023.

Text: Petra Partanen