I started my career as an Outward Bound instructor, in the late ’60′s. Later, after several years working in Outward Bound and then with court referred youth in adaptive experiential education programs, I went back to college and earned a BA in Art History. After that, I became a high school art and technical theatre teacher, and a father. In the mid ’80′s I attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education (MEd, 1988; EdD, 1997), where I studied organizational change, educational change, systems theory, qualitative and ethnographic research and evaluation, and consulting theory and practice. I’ve been coaching and consulting with schools, school districts, support organizations, government agencies, and social service organizations now for 20 years.
My Mission is co-creating networks of democratic, adaptive, and values-driven organizations that are deeply and organically connected to their communities. We build emergent and evolving enterprises, modeled on biodiverse ecosystems,designed for learning, health, resilience, and accomplishment.
Inquiry & Learning for Change, my company, coaches, consults, and does research and evaluation with schools, school districts, businesses, non-profits, and government agencies in an approach that is dynamic, responsive, and strongly grounded in substantive theory with clear, practical applications. I&LC’s work supports innovative leadership, team development, and positive, planned organizational change.
My work focuses on helping organizational leaders and staff members clarify their values, purposes, and vision, to guide purposeful creation of programs and activities that enact those values and vision. I help build broadly networked learning communities within and across organizations. This leads to the ability to design programs that hold together in coherent and aligned ways that feel seamless, personalized, and responsive to clients and membership, and to the broader community in which organizations do their work. I help craft real time professional development and knowledge management systems that support new organizational structures and a culture of innovation and results. I work hands on and over the long term with organizational members to develop leadership, engage in strategic planning, and create emergent organizational systems necessary for effective implementation of a transformational (fundamental rather than incremental or piecemeal) change agenda. I hold high expectations for the learning and performance of people and teams, and believe that healthy, equitable, and wise organizations can be created to serve a more democratic, socially just, and ecologically sustainable community and society.
I have two grown sons, both musicians, and am an avid backpacker and Anusara yoga practitioner. I live in Oakland, CA. My consulting organization is: Inquiry & Learning for Change. You may reach me there, or at my LinkedIn Profile.
