Focus/interest: Philosophy, management and business ethics

Academic qualifications:  BE (Elec), PhD

Contact: Email John

Biography:  John Little graduated in Electrical Engineering at the University of Melbourne in 1967. He worked for several years in telecommunications, computers and control systems in Australia, UK and Iran, in management consulting in Montreal and in executive education in Australia.

He established his own general management consultancy firm in Melbourne in 1979, with focus on creative and collaborative problem solving, strategic planning and leadership training. He consulted widely across Australian business, government, church and not-for-profit organisations.

His discovery of Lonergan’s Insight in 1991 brought new depth to his consulting. He worked with Tom Daly to design and run workshops for his executive clients on ‘thinking’ and then, with Professor Jack Flanagan of the Australian Catholic University, he set up CREDO (Centre for Research and Education in Decision-making within Organisations) in 2002. He was its Director for the next six years and completed a PhD thesis on business ethics and the foundations of organisation and governance. John has written numerous papers on management topics and business ethics and addressed conferences in Germany, Shanghai, Bangkok, Singapore and the USA, as well as in Australia.

John and his wife, Mila, also ran a small farm near Melbourne for 18 years and retired to Bentleigh in 2019.  They have four children and six grandchildren – and a large extended family in Melbourne, Sydney, Germany and Croatia.

Publications:

2016 Corporate Minding, Pegasus – Newsletter of the Caux Round Table Network, VI(VI), pp.10-16

2015 Thomas V. Daly S.J.: Map-Maker of the Human Spirit, The Lonergan Review, 6(1), pp.183-210

2013 On Trust and Value, Pegasus – Newsletter of the Caux Round Table Network 3(8), pp.11-19

2013 In Search of Wisdom, in Wise Management in Organisational Complexity, eds. M Thompson & D Bevan, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp.151-169

2013 Business Leadership, in Priest, Poet and Theologian – Essays in Honour of Anthony Kelly CSsR., eds. N Omerod & R Gascoigne, Mosaic Press, Preston, pp.234-253

2012 Trust in Business, Theoforum 43(1-2), pp.47-68

2012 A Powerful Intellectual Foundation for a Jesuit Business Education that Makes a Difference: Bernard Lonergan S.J., Jesuit Business Education 3(1) pp.127-149

2009 Lonergan’s Intentionality Analysis and the Foundations of Organization and Governance: A Response to Ghoshal, Doctoral Dissertation, Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, 365 pages

2008 The Human Person—The Heart of Business, Business Education at Catholic Universities—Exploring the Role of Mission-Driven Business Schools, University of Notre Dame Australia

2006 Trust in the Mind and Heart of Corporate Governance, in Global Perspectives on Ethics of Corporate Governance, eds. G. J. Rossouw and A. J. G. Sison, Palgrave McMillan, pp.49-65

2005 Trust in the Heart and Mind of Corporate Governance GGU Journal of Business 1(1)

2002 Mind – Your Own Business, in Australian Lonergan Workshop II, eds. Matthew Olgivie and W.J. Danaher, Novum Organum Press, Drummoyne, pp.48-60

2000 Mindfulness at Work: A Five Rooms Model for Thinking about Thinking, Mt Eliza Business Review Winter/Spring, pp.19-29

1996 Smart Link – Mind Management (with T. Daly)

1996 Insight, Strategic Thinking and Control, The Practising Manager 17(1) pp.19-29

1982 In Search of Collaboration, The Practising Manager 2(2), pp.10-14

1981 Large Group Processes for Organizational Diagnosis and Planning in Australian Organizational Behaviour: Readings eds. W. M. Ainsworth and Q. F. Willis, Macmillan, South Melbourne