Charles Leadbeater
Encyclopedia
Charles Leadbeater is a British
author and former advisor to Tony Blair
.
He first came to widespread notice in the 1980s as a regular contributor to the magazine Marxism Today
. Later he was Industrial Editor and Tokyo
Bureau Chief at the Financial Times
. While working at The Independent
in the 1990s, he devised Bridget Jones's Diary
(originally a column) with Helen Fielding
. He worked on social entrepreneurship
, publishing The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur in 1997. He advised the British government on matters of the Internet and the knowledge-driven economy. His most recent book, We-think, explores the new phenomenon of mass creativity exemplified by web sites such as YouTube
, Wikipedia
and MySpace
. The book, which in a preliminary version is open to public criticism and revision, argues that participation, rather than consumption or production, will be the key organizing idea of future society. In September 2010 Leadbeater opened the Incubate (festival)
, in Tilburg
, The Netherlands.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author and former advisor to Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
.
He first came to widespread notice in the 1980s as a regular contributor to the magazine Marxism Today
Marxism Today
Marxism Today was the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of Great Britain and was disestablished in 1991. It was particularly important during the 1980s under the editorship of Martin Jacques...
. Later he was Industrial Editor and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
Bureau Chief at the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
. While working at The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
in the 1990s, he devised Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. Written in the form of a personal diary, the novel chronicles a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single working woman living in London. She writes about her career, self-image, vices, family, friends, and romantic...
(originally a column) with Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding is an English novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones, a sequence of novels and films that chronicle the life of a thirtysomething single woman in London as she tries to make sense of life and love.Her novels Bridget Jones's...
. He worked on social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship is the work of social entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change . While a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a...
, publishing The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur in 1997. He advised the British government on matters of the Internet and the knowledge-driven economy. His most recent book, We-think, explores the new phenomenon of mass creativity exemplified by web sites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
. The book, which in a preliminary version is open to public criticism and revision, argues that participation, rather than consumption or production, will be the key organizing idea of future society. In September 2010 Leadbeater opened the Incubate (festival)
Incubate (festival)
Incubate is a multidisciplinary arts festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands. On June 16, the festival changed it name into Incubate after a request by the Austin, US based festival SXSW to change its name. Between 2005 and 2008 the festival was called ZXZW....
, in Tilburg
Tilburg
Tilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....
, The Netherlands.
Books
- A Piece of the Action: Employee Ownership, Equity Pay and the Rise of the Knowledge Economy (DemosDemos (UK think tank)- History :Demos was founded in 1993 by former Marxism Today editor Martin Jacques, and Geoff Mulgan, who became its first director. It was formed in response to what Mulgan, Jacques and others saw as a crisis in politics in Britain, with voter engagement in decline and political institutions...
Papers) (1997) - Living on Thin Air: The New Economy (1999)
- The Independents: Britain's New Cultural Entrepreneurs (co-authored with Kate Oakley) (1999)
- Living on Thin Air: The New Economy (2000)
- Personalisation Through Participation: A New Script for Public Services (2004)
- Up the Down Escalator: Why the Global Pessimists Are Wrong (2004)
- The Pro-Am Revolution (co-authored with Paul Miller) (2004)
- We-think: The Power of Mass Creativity (2008)
External links
- Charles Leadbeater's home page
- "Welcome to We-Think" article in vodafone-receiver magazine nr.19
- Home page of We-think including a pre-release draft, the final drafts of the first three chapters and some background material
- TED Talks: Charles Leadbeater on innovation, video lecture at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
, July 2005. - Participle profile
- Watch keynote from Charles Leadbeater at Incubate 2010