Dr. Richard Farson, psychologist, author and educator, is president of the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI), an independent, nonprofit organization he helped found in La Jolla, California, devoted to research and education toward the advancement of society, the strengthening of democracy, and the enrichment of life for all. Among his current responsibilities, he heads WBSI’s International Leadership Forum, an Internet-based think tank composed entirely of highly influential leaders from business, government, academia, science, journalism, literature and the arts, addressing the great policy issues of our time.

Long interested in the field of design, he was the founding dean of the School of Design at the California Institute of the Arts, and a thirty-year member of the Board of Directors of the International Design Conference in Aspen, of which he was president for seven years. In 1999 he was elected as the one Public Director (non-architect) to the national Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects, and is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.

A University of Chicago Ph.D. in psychology, he has been a Naval Officer, president of Esalen Institute, a faculty member of the Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, and a Fellow on the Human Relations Faculty of the Harvard Business School.

Among other books, Dr. Farson is the author of the critically-acclaimed bestseller, "Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership," now in twelve languages, and with co-author Ralph Keyes, "Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation." An article based on this book won the McKinsey award for the best Harvard Business Review article published in 2002, the one "most likely to have a major influence on managers worldwide." His new book, The Power of Design: A Force for Transforming Everything," published in November, 2008, calls for an expanded role for the design professions in addressing our global society’s most pressing needs.

A student of social movements, Farson has had a long-time involvement with civil rights issues, notably his pioneering efforts on behalf of women’s and children’s rights, marked by his 1969 Look Magazine article, "The Rage of Women," and his 1974 book, "Birthrights: A Bill of Rights for Children," now a classic in youth rights literature, each of which was the first to bring to a national audience the need for liberation and policy reform.