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In my past life as the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and the Director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).
I was deeply involved in the management of radical innovation and in the formation of corporate strategy and strategic positioning of Xerox as The Document Company.

Today, I'm Chief of Confusion, helping people ask the right questions, trying to make a difference through my work- speaking, writing, teaching.

I've also received a few honorary degrees along the way, and in 2004 I was inducted into the Industry Hall of Fame.

BOOKS

The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends On Productive Friction And Dynamic Specialization, John Hagel and John Seely Brown, Harvard Business School Press; May, 2005

Storytelling in Organizations : Why Storytelling Is Transforming 21st Century Organizations and Management, John Seely Brown, Stephen Denning, Katalina Groh, Laurence Prusak, Butterworth-Heinemann; August 2004

The Social Life of Information, John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, Harvard Business School Press, February 2000 (translated into nine languages).

Seeing Differently: Insights on Innovation, J.S. Brown (Ed.), Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1997.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems, D. Sleeman and J.S. Brown (Eds.), London, England: Academic Press, Ltd., 1982.


INTERVIEWS

Knowledge@Wharton: Can Your Firm Develop a Sustainable Edge?

WIRED: Innovation and Technology: An Interview with JSB

Seth Kahan: Storytelling and the Art of Science

Marcia Conner: Linking, Lurking, Listening, and Learning, an interview from Learning in the New Economy Magazine

Lawlor Review: High Tech, Higher Ed, and the New World Order

David Gill: The IBTE Conversation Ethix

Storytelling: The Scientist's Perspective
John spoke on this topic at a symposium called "Storytelling: Passport to the 21st Century," arranged by the Smithsonian.
The powerpoint slides can be reached by clicking here.

ASSOCIATES

• John Hagel
• Paul Duguid

BOARD ACTIVITIES

I'm also involved on Boards, Advisory Boards and Editorial Boards, all manner of boards. See CV...

SPEAKING
I love talking (and listening) on these topics:

Rethinking Globalization
The intensity of global competition calls for a review of your business strategy. Your company's sustainability depends on your ability to develop a constantly evergreen set of capabilities before anybody else does. How do you accelerate your firm's capability-building processes? Your talent development strategy? Is it possible to learn even faster? more >>

Innovation Blowback
Emerging markets such as China and India have become breeding grounds for new management processes and practices that help companies to maintain or even improve the quality of their products and services while simultaneously slashing prices. The disruptive impact is now confined to developing countries, but "blowback" from this surge of innovation could quickly be unleashed on the rest of the world. To meet the challenge, established businesses must learn new skillsnot least important, an ability to orchestrate complex networks of specialized enterprises. What steps must you take to protect your company's future? more >>

Value Creation at the Edge
It is not just corporate training that is important but rather rich participation with partners who are at the edge. Ask: how do you learn as much from a partner as you learn from creating something yourself? How does distributed collaboration around the world become a critical strategy for survival? What are the most effective ways to convert your existing global supplier networks into new nodes of innovation? more >>

Learning in the Digital Age
Rethinking how today's kids that grow up digital learn, think, work, communicate and socialize. Perhaps our generation focused on information but these kids focus on meaning - how does information take on meaning ... more >>

Why IT Matters More Today than Ever Before
To understand how to achieve a sustainable competitive edge from IT, we must understand how Web services or, more generally, service-oriented architectures, enable a new kind of corporate strategy to become enacted. more >>

Radical Adaptability
We are at a strategic juncture which brings two separate developments together - grid computing and extended web services - providing the opportunity to slash capital expenditure and TCO on the one hand and enabling a degree of radical adaptability - both in terms of computer utilization AND business flexibility, on the other hand. This confluence is unprecedented and opens up a host of strategic possibilities but this also requires new skills for the CIO and potentially a new positioning of CIOs before the full potential of this confluence can be realized... more >>

Creating a Culture of Learning
Organizational learning and knowledge sharing have held out great promises but have failed to deliver the goodies. Why? And what can be done about it? more >>

Managing Radical Innovation
Let's be clear; you can't manage invention, just nurture it ... but you can manage innovation, the pathway to the market. more >>

The Will to Innovate
I am tired of everyone pointing their fingers at the other guys -- corporations at unions; universities at government; and so on. Start by looking at your organization. What has your organization undertaken to innovate your own innovation processes?

I am distressed at how bad most CEOs are today in thinking out of the box. Boards aren't much better. And, of course, most institutions and foundations tend to be hesitant to re-invent themselves...

It's time to be bold; it's time to innovate innovation. The 21st century demands it...
more >>

Design, Design, Design
Why can't we keep things simple? Sure, we all complain, but why can't we design stuff that mere mortals (like you and me) can use? more >>

RECENT SPEECHES
CONTACT ME

December 1, 2006
“Rethinking Learning – Applying the Long Tail to Learning”
MIT – Learning with Barriers/Technology without Borders Symposium

October 27, 2006
“Global Process Networks for Sustainable Competitive Advantage in the 21st Century”
UC Irvine, The Paul Merage School of Business. Strategic Initiatives in China: Partners for Innovation Conference

October 15, 2006
“Learning Reconceived for the Networked Age” University of Michigan. iConference – 2006: Research Frontiers in Information

October 12, 2006
“Innovation, Inc.” New Paradigm – IT and CA Member meeting, SAP Executive Briefing Center, Newton Square, Pennsylvania.

September, 22, 2006
“High Tech, Higher Ed, and the New World Order” University of Notre Dame, Indiana

September 22, 2006
“Reflecting on Global Creation Networks and the Architecture and Rationale of the Firm in the 21st Century” University of Notre Dame, Indiana. The Mendoza College of Business

August 8, 2006
“Rethinking Innovation Ecologies for the Global Economy: Letting the arts and sciences meet” City of San Jose, California. Global Leadership Forum, ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge

"Innovation and Invention in an Era of Globalization" - Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen, Colorado, 6 July 2006.

"Globalization, Collaboration and Innovation in the Networked World: Enabling the Global Mind" - Collaborative Technologies Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, 20 June 2006.

"The Increasing Need for Critical, Creative Thinking: Challenging Deeply Held Assumptions In Today's Rapidly Evolving World" - College 5 Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 June 2006.

"Leading Innovation in Today's Rapidly Changing World: The Leader as Scientist, Artist and Strategist" - IBM and the Academy of Principals, Singapore, 1 June 2006.

"Accelerating Learning Through Learning Communities" - Singapore Teacher's Conference, Singapore, 31 May 2006.

"High Tech, Soft Touch: Creating Synergy Between People and Technology" - World Bank Globalization Conference 2006, Washington DC, 25 May 2006.

"High Tech, Soft Touch: Creating Synergy Between People, Documents and Tools" - AIIM Expo 2006, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 18 May 2006.

"Accelerating Innovation Through Knowledge Management and Networks of Practice" - APQC Knowledge Management Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, 5 May 2006.

"Integration from The Far Side" - Arthur Page Society Spring Seminar, New York, New York, 6 April 2006.

"Growing Up Digital or Learning and Leading in the 21st Century" - Temple University. 4 April 2006

"From Push to Pull: Higher Education in the Digital Age" - The Ohio Digital Commons for Education (ODCE) 2006 Conference - The Convergence of Libraries, Learning and Technology, Columbus, Ohio, 6 March 2006

"The Innovation Challenge in Today's Rapidly Changing World: The Competency Trap Reigns Supreme" - Cisco Development Leadership Summit, Monterey, California, 31 January 2006

"How to grow and innovate in the digital age: Why is Information Technology more significant than what it seems" SIMO 2005: World of Learning Conference, Madrid, Spain, 16 November 2005

"Accelerating Innovation through Knowledge Mangement" - Knowledge Management Asia 2005 Suntec Convention Center, Singapore, 25 October 2005

"The Innovation Challenge in Today's Rapidly Changing World" - Alegent Health, Stanford, California, 12 October 2005

"Digital Culture and Learning in the Digital Age" - 2005 Open Education Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, 29 September 2005

"Global Learning and a Common Sense Model for the Digital Age" - Aspen Symposium, Aspen, Colorado, 26 September 2005

"Learning in the Digital Age (21st Century) - Letting the Edge Transform the Core" - Chartering 2.0: Designing The Future of Charter Schooling, Charter School Leadership Council, Mackinac Island, Michigan, 8 August 2005

CONTACT ME