about
me

I am a theoretical physicist by background and studied at Oxford University and then the University of Cambridge. My field of study was quantum physics. I then moved through various random steps, and through further academic study, into engineering, strategy and organisational consultancy, and hands-on management.

I have been deeply involved in the science and philosophy of complexity since the mid-1990s and the honing of these ideas continues to imbue both my research and my practice.

I teach worldwide in a wide range of institutions offering postgraduate programmes in international development, systemic change, engineering, holistic science, management, sustainability and community engagement.

I am a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a visiting academic with the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath and with Cranfield School of Management. I also had a wonderful few months, in 2019, as a research fellow of Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study.

Stepping Stones

I am the lead author of Embracing Complexity (2015: Oxford University Press), and author of a number of book chapters and articles. My most recent and most ambitious book, The Dao of Complexity, is now available.

In my work outside academia, I have held executive management positions in large corporates and consulted to global organisations in the private and not-for-profit sectors. I led the strategy and organisation division of an international consultancy firm before setting up my own practice.

I am keenly interested in global futures and transformative change; I engage in local politics and place-based initiatives in my hometown of Frome in the UK, and I have been chair of various organisations working in community health and sustainability.

Jean Boulton Teaching Complexity Theory
My motivation comes from my anxiety about the state of the world. I feel enormously concerned about the insufficient focus on global heating, rising inequality and increase in global conflict. We seem to be ‘fiddling while Rome burns’. Indeed, we seem to be losing our humanity. I notice in business and politics a move away from the values of community, a lack of importance placed on integrity and truth, an unassailable focus on profit and on the short term, and a seeming unconcern about the precariousness of the future. In my lifetime, I have never been so concerned. My writing and speaking are my form of activism. I hope to challenge perspectives as to how to think about ‘the way the world works’ and how that shapes how to act, manage and consider the future, how to value others, value nature and see that we are all in this together. I am inviting you to consider that our values drive our actions, and through our actions, we co-create the future.
Books By Jean Boulton