I am a coach, consultant, speaker and writer.
Our notions of work are changing dramatically. Time and space are mutating in front of us as we encounter an always-on always-connected world.
Prior to becoming independent, I worked for 25 years in the areas of organizational effectiveness, organizational design, and organizational change with a grounding in finance, financial management, and the social sciences .. psychology, sociology and economics.
All of the past models and approaches are becoming restrictive and clumsy in today’s networked environment. The increasing clumsiness led me to seek out more knowledge about the paradoxes and polarities of organizational structures and dynamics.
I learned and practiced approaches to people co-creating vision, values, objectives and the ways to see, understand and touch tangible results – processes like Open Space, Future Search, Improv, Participative Work Design, Appreciative Enquiry, and Scenario Planning. I’ve also spent the last 20 years working at understanding the structure and the social dynamics engendered by the Web. It is forcing mutations in behaviour and culture upon us. Today I focus on the sociology of human social systems and the structures and dynamics of networked organizations.
20 years ago I coined and defined the term and concept wirearchy.
We’re just at the beginning of a massive amount of individual and collective learning and unlearning about how and why humans interact with each other. These new conditions will not go away. All of our existing social institutions will be changed in one way or another.
We’re going into an uncertain future together, by necessity. We don’t know much yet about where all this is taking us, but it certainly has the potential to be somewhere very different.
The arts, humanities and philosophy are very important, I think. I also believe the past will be a useful guide to our future.
I am perpetually curious about what people do, why they do what they do and how they go about it.
During the past 10 years I’ve co-authored three books …
Making Knowledge Work – the arrival of Web 2.0 .. with J. Bair, Ark Group, 2007 (a little-read early attempt to synthesize old-school knowledge management philosophy and methods with the early dynamics and patterns emerging from peoples’ interactions in / on the participative Web)
La Société Émergente du XXIe Siècle (The Emergent Society of the 21st Century) .. Piktos, 2010 (tagging along on the coattails of Michel Cartier, the Quebecois version of Marshall McLuhan meets Alvin Toffler)
Wirearchy – Sketches for the Future of Work .. Wirearchy Commons members, 2015
Today there are many new ways of doing things together. Yet we still need to find better ways and better reasons .. ways and reasons that honour each of us.
I have also carried out a significant amount of volunteer work in the arts world over the years, notably in the disciplines of dance, film and the application of various media to community development initiatives.
I like to help people and organizations clarify critical issues and inspire them co-create responsive ways to face a daunting future.
I can be reached at jon.husband@gmail.com
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