How MITx’s u-lab became part of a learner’s “DNA”
By Camila Massa
Can an online course change the way you learn, lead, and connect with others? For Verónica María Farías, the answer is yes. What began as a desire to deepen her understanding of systemic leadership transformed her learning so profoundly, she now describes it as part of her DNA.
From intention to action: learning in community
Farías’ career path blends philosophy, education, and public policy. A graduate of Universidad Panamericana in Mexico, she now leads a communications department at a Trust that promotes environmental impact programs. Her approach to work reflects a balance of leadership, critical thinking, and empathy applied to social change.
What drew her most to the MITx course u-lab: Leading from the Emerging Future was its emphasis on community practice. “I want to be there. I want to be part of that,” she recalls, describing the image of people engaged in conversation circles that first caught her attention. Part of MIT Open Learning, MITx offers high-quality massive open online courses adapted from the MIT classroom for learners worldwide.
Taught by Otto Scharmer, a senior lecturer at MIT and founding chair of the Presencing Institute, and along with other instructors, the u-lab MITx course introduces learners to the tools, methods, and spaces to bring about meaningful community, organizational, and systems transformations.
“I wanted to be part of those circles, and I stopped waiting,” Farías says, explaining how she decided to enroll in the course, which gave her a concrete roadmap and framework. The program introduced her to leadership tools including systems thinking, journaling, empathic communication and coaching circles, which soon became part of her daily practice.
“I didn’t wait for someone to create hubs, and so I created them myself,” says Farías. With that determination, she organized three coaching circles that met weekly, gradually growing into a true community of practice. The online course transformed into a living laboratory for experimentation, learning, and co-creating.
Shortly after beginning the program, Farías traveled to Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, to participate in a Latin American conference of Ecosystem Leadership. There, she met Scharmer and Arawana Hayashi, u-lab co-instructor and founder of the Social Presencing Theater practice. “I achieved my goal. I visualized it,” she says, remembering the moment she found herself in the very kind of supportive group she had pictured at the beginning of her journey.
The u-lab framework brought into practice
MITx’s u-lab begins with a clear diagnosis of the present world: change accelerates, while uncertainty and complexity do not slow down. The course invites participants to look at the root causes of systems and to shift the quality of attention they bring to listening and acting. Through an experiential learning process supported by a global community, learners are provided with tools, methods, and spaces for people to apply Theory U, which blends systems thinking, innovation, and leading change, with awareness practices, to the issues that matter most to them.
Farías’ daily work puts that framework into practice. She strengthened her ability to facilitate complex conversations, coordinate diverse teams, and build alliances that sustain ongoing projects. She also developed a leadership style centered on active listening and co-creation. Today she serves as one of the lead members of the Spanish-speaking Theory U Practitioners Hub, a network that connects more than 175 people around the world.
Scharmer’s work was a constant reference throughout her process. She remembers meeting him in Mexico: “He embodies Theory U. Seeing how, with great expertise, he was able to integrate everything that was happening in the room and lead it toward an emerging future was incredible,” she says, adding that the bridge between theory and lived experience is what makes u-lab truly unique.
Her experience did not end with the course. Today, every coaching circle Farías facilitates and every conversation she leads is a way of incorporating everything she learned.
“MIT, U-Lab, and the ecosystem leadership courses truly expanded my horizon in a way that created a real impact on my career and trajectory, professionally and of course personally, because sometimes there is simply no way to separate the two,” Farías says.
The interview for this article was conducted in Spanish.
How MITx’s u-lab became part of a learner’s “DNA” was originally published in MIT Open Learning on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.