John Furey
Enterpreneur
John Furey was born in the USA in 1960 and within a year his parents moved to Europe. He grew up in Lugano and then Geneva, Switzerland and received a traditional English education. During his travels in the 80‘s and 90‘s he became fascinated with human nature, what drives it and how it shapes our differences. His passion for observing and understanding human nature blossomed particularly during the five years he spent living on the African continent (‘81-’86) where he was confronted with the stark differences between European and native African thinking.
He returned to the USA in 1986 and by 1993 was busy working on the development of a theory of how Time creates Thought. He then developed the first online thinking style profile in 1994, which some regard as a watershed moment for the field of psychology, and later leveraged his TimeStyle Profile as the cornerstone for a successful consulting and organizational development firm that he built. By 1997 he had launched his first academic efforts to establish what he later named the MindTime Theory as a valid scientific theory of thinking.
Over the years he has worked with numerous experts including Professor Dan Ariely at MIT, Dr. Vincent Fortunato (formerly at Boise State University and now a MindTime Project member) and a variety of linguists, psychologists, and management experts. His collaboration with scientists and thought leaders became known as the MindTime Project, and the MindTime Theory would prove to be much more important than he could have then imagined.
Through self-study and the development of his ideas, he has become respected by scientists, psychologists, and educationalists, earning himself a place at the table in the discussion of modern behavioral psychology and advanced organizational development. He has written two books and co-authored a number of scientific papers with his colleague Dr. Vincent Fortunato, who believes that John’s theory of how people think will become the dominant theory of individual differences in psychology. The MindTime Theory describes the human mental operating system and its functioning.
His innovations have led to breakthrough insights into group dynamics and organizational thinking. John has done extensive work internationally and has enjoyed years of fruitful collaboration with teams at The Nature Conservancy, the Royal Bank of Canada, Merrill Lynch, and Hewlett Packard, among others. He is MindTime’s chief visionary, seeking to change the way people and societies think about people and collaborate together. John has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including National Public Radio, has spoken as a guest lecturer at major university campuses, and has spoken at and led workshops and retreats in many countries around the world.
In 2008 he and his partners-in-thought formed MindTime Inc., a social sciences company dedicated to commercializing and leveraging the considerable intellectual property that has been developed and patented. Under John’s leadership MindTime Inc. has also pioneered the development of powerful online tools capable of mapping thinking in organizations, communities and even societies. Today they are innovating new applications for consumer engagement, consumer intelligence and segmentation, behavioral change in wellness programs as well as web analytics. The MindTime Maps platform is successfully being used in change navigation practices as well as organizational development.
Also check out John’s blog at http://mindtime.posterous.com/
