About Warren Kinston

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Warren Kinston.

In 2007, I decided to move my research and writing about THEE fully into the Internet era. Since then I have put all new discoveries on this website, and I am re-working and posting all previous conventional publications. The aim is for others to benefit by engaging with taxonomic frameworks, and to participate in their improvement and further development.

On this personal part of the website, I provide my background, offer access to publications, and give a brief account of how I reached this point.

My Interests

I am an Australian, born in 1945, who graduated from Sydney University (Australia) with Honours in Science (1966) and Medicine (1969). I pursued careers as a medical doctor, psychoanalyst, consultant, entrepreneur and teacher—mainly in the UK but also in Australia. My research and consulting endeavours have been wide-ranging. Over an evolving career, I have studied: narcissism, trauma, family interaction, psychosomatic illness, decision-making, management, health services organisation, politics, governance, creativity and prosperity. I have pursued other interests: for example, for several years in the mid 1980s I worked on paranormal phenomena; and between 1995 and 2006, I co-founded two biotechnology companies which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

From 1970-1980, I was engaged in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and family therapy as both a practitioner and researcher. From 1980-2000, I consulted in the UK (mainly) to a wide variety of large-scale long-term organizational and social change projects. This was conducted initially from BIOSS, an institute within Brunel University and later privately via The SIGMA Centre Ltd.

A Unique Taxonomy

Throughout this diverse exposure, I was preoccupied with what it is to be a human being. I wondered how our social contexts—relationships, families, organizations, societies—could enable our growth and bring out the best in us. I saw, what everyone knows, that many social arrangements failed to grapple adequately with our needs and frailties. I published my theoretical findings and proposals for betterment in the academic, professional and systems science literatures in over 100 papers and books. My major publication is an encyclopaedic text, Working with Values: Software of the Mind (1995), which is a systematic and practical account of purpose, value and obligation in organizations and society.

I have focused on developing, validating, applying and refining my taxonomic researches. Because these touch on the essence of creative achievement, in my consulting work, I referred to the Technology of Common-Sense^®. However, since unifying these frameworks, I refer to the Taxonomy of Human Elements in Endeavour (THEE). Since 2006, I have been working full-time to develop and understand the Taxonomy scientifically, while making it generally available online. Since 2013, I have been investigating its probable neurobiological underpinnings.

Originally posted: July 2009; Last updated: 14-Jan-2014.