About Warren Kinston

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Warren Kinston.

I have been working scientifically on the Taxonomy presented in this website since 1980, even if I did not know that in those earliest years. Since 2006, I have committed myself full-time to develop and understand the Taxonomy, while making it generally available online.

In 2007, I decided to move my research and writing about THEE fully into the Internet era. That meant putting all new discoveries on a website, and re-working and posting all previous conventional publications. The aim is for everyone to benefit by engaging with taxonomic frameworks, and (for those so inclined) to participate in their improvement and further development. It is not evident that these latter aims have been met to date.

In 2013, having accumulated vast numbers of observations over more than 30 years, I began looking across frameworks to help speculation on the rationale for the distinctive structure. I also began investigating suspected neurobiological underpinnings. By 2016, I had made considerable progress and at that time ceased publishing to the website for a few years. Research recommenced in 2019 with promising if necessarily provisional findings. Software upgrades to the CMS, led me to re-design and simplify the website in 2022-23.

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. Between 1995 and 2006, I co-founded two biotechnology companies which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange; and in 2016 I co-founded an iOS software company applying AI to cash flow modelling in commercial real estates.

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. Since then, I have assisted individuals and groups pro bono from time to time in the field of social change where taxonomic understanding seemed obviously relevant.

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 am 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).

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