Welcome to my site, highlighting my current research, publications and background.

My intention in establishing this site is to create a conversation around my current focal interest; the development of a unified theory of human behavior, what I call the Renewed Darwinian (RD) Theory of Human Behavior. The development of such a theory has been the focus of my entire professional life. Those interested in how this interest has unfolded in my life can look at my Informal Biographic Notes. My CV and short biography cover these events in the usual formal way.

My  current statement of the RD theory is to be found in my book--length Draft Manuscript, Being Human: A Darwinian Theory of Human Behavior. You can download the entire manuscript as well as individual chapter on the book's page. For a quick and concise overview, read the the independent summary  "An Introduction to RDT of Human Behavior".' For more background on the theory I would suggest my prior 2002 book with Nitin Nohria, Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices.  This book first developed the theory of four ultimate motives, the four unconscious drives underlying all human behavior.

Three articles of mine on the theory that provide detail of key aspects of the theory are available. The first is The Biological Basis of Morality. It builds on Darwin’s theory of the innate human conscience and derives a preliminary moral code of behavior, a skill set needed to build long-term human relationships.

The second, Institutionalizing Wisdom in Organizations, is an invited chapter in the Handbook of Organizational and Managerial Wisdom edited by Eric Kessler and James Bailey. This article draws on the detailed thinking of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution and compares their check and balance system with that employed by the prefrontal cortex of the human brain to resolve conflict among the human drives.

The third and most recent article,  Humane Leadership, develops the implication of RD theory for the broad topic of leadership.

The other two articles represent earlier work that demonstrate the state of my thinking about a unified theory of human behavior some 50 and 25 years ago.

In the Blog I have posted a short provocative list of the insights of Darwin (quotes mostly drawn from his Descent of Man book) that underpin the RD theory and give it its name.

In the Blog one will also find the guide to the interactive features of this site. This will provide a way for all those interested to react to the RD Theory, present alternative ideas, submit empirical evidence, confirming or disconfirming. etc.  I will post relevant comments on the Blog and look for ways to incorporate them in subsequent editions of Being Human. The theory in its present form needs testing and improvement. We can all be thankful that methodologies are currently available to observe how the brain works so that theories can be much more definitively tested  than in the past.