Charles Leadbeater

This article is about the contemporary author. For the clergyman and Theosophical author, see Charles Webster Leadbeater.

Leadbeater signing copies of We-think

Charles Leadbeater (formerly known as Charlie 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^{[citation needed]} (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.

See also

• Professional amateurs

Books

• A Piece of the Action: Employee Ownership, Equity Pay and the Rise of the Knowledge Economy (Demos 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)

References

• Charles Leadbeater biography at Penguin Books

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 TED, July 2005.
• Participle profile
• Watch keynote from Charles Leadbeater at Incubate 2010

Marxism Today

Writings by Leadbeater:

• Progressive Individualism
• Facing up to the Future
• The Rise of the Social Market
• Karaoke Culture
• Manifesto for Public Services

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