{{Short description|British writer and political adviser}} {{About|the contemporary author|the clergyman and Theosophical author|Charles Webster Leadbeater}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} {{Multiple issues| {{more footnotes|date=August 2015}} {{BLP sources|date=August 2015}} }} thumb|Leadbeater signing copies of ''We-think'' in 2008 '''Charles Leadbeater''', also known as '''Charlie Leadbeater''', is a British author and former advisor to Tony Blair.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/29/marxism-today-forgotten-visionaries-whose-ideas-could-save-labour|title=Marxism Today: the forgotten visionaries whose ideas could save Labour|last=Harris|first=John|author-link=John Harris (critic)|date=29 September 2015|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=7 January 2022|quote=Leadbeater, who worked as a government adviser in the early New Labour period, assisting Mandelson at the Department of Trade and Industry, and writing speeches for Blair.}}</ref>
==Biography== A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he first came to widespread notice in the 1980s as a regular contributor to the magazine ''Marxism Today''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/03/news/the-curse-of-marx-kills-a-leftist-british-journal.html|title=The Curse of Marx Kills a Leftist British Journal|last=Whitney|first=Craig R.|date=3 December 1991|website=The New York Times|language=en|access-date=7 January 2022|quote=Charles Leadbeater, the industry editor of the newspaper The Financial Times and a frequent contributor to the magazine.}}</ref> 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'' (originally a column) with Helen Fielding.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-true-story-of-bridget-jones-533042.html|title=The True Story of Bridget Jones|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=13 November 2004|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=7 January 2022|quote=It was, from the start, fully formed and gloriously funny, as can be seen in the column on the right, a testament to Fielding's skills as a writer and the careful conception of Leadbeater.}}</ref> He worked on social entrepreneurship, publishing ''The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur'' in 1997.<ref>{{cite book|last=Leadbeater|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Leadbeater|date=11 March 1997|title=The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur|url=https://www.demos.co.uk/files/theriseofthesocialentrepreneur.pdf|publisher=Demos|language=en|isbn=1898309531}}</ref> He advised the British government on matters of the Internet and the knowledge-driven economy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Diamond|first=Patrick|author-link=Patrick Diamond|date=19 January 2021|title=The British Labour Party in Opposition and Power 1979-2019: Forward March Halted?|url=https://www.routledge.com/The-British-Labour-Party-in-Opposition-and-Power-1979--/Diamond/p/book/9781138817890|publisher=Routledge|language=en|page=|isbn=9781138817890}}</ref>
His 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 and sharing, rather than consumption or production, will be the key organizing idea of future society.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/here-comes-everybody-by-clay-shirky-wethink-by-charles-leadbeater-798702.html|title=Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky. We-Think, by Charles Leadbeater|last=Kane|first=Pat|author-link=Pat Kane|date=21 March 2008|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=7 January 2022|quote=Leadbeater's mantra "we are what we share" could conceivably become "an economy's motive force"...}}</ref>
In September 2010 Leadbeater opened the Incubate (festival), in Tilburg, The Netherlands. In a 2014 report for the think tank Centre for London, Leadbeater coined the term 'Endies' (short for 'Employed but with No Disposable Income or Savings'), to refer to the growing number of households in London struggling on modest incomes in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Leadbeater|first1=Charles|last2=Wilson|first2=Brell|last3=Theseira|first3=Margarethe|title=Hollow Promise: How London Fails People On Modest Incomes and What Should Be Done About It|url=http://centreforlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CFL-Hollow-Promise-Report.pdf|website=Centre for London|publisher=Centre for London|accessdate=25 August 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006121745/http://centreforlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CFL-Hollow-Promise-Report.pdf|archivedate=6 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
In 2015, Leadbeater was working as an innovation consultant<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-07-09|title=Schools of the future: don't forget, the most powerful computer is the brain|url=http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jul/09/schools-of-the-future-most-powerful-computer-brain|access-date=2021-11-23|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> and was described as "leading authority on innovation and creativity" in 2020<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 22, 2020|title=Are you creating brands or consumers? |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/are-you-creating-brands-or-consumers/articleshow/74250851.cms|access-date=2021-11-23|website=The Times of India|language=en}}</ref>
==Works==
* ''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) * ''Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers Around the World Paperback'' (photography by Romain Staropoli) (2012) * ''The Frugal Innovator: Creating Change on a Shoestring Budget'' (2014)
==See also== * Professional amateurs
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category|Charles Leadbeater}} {{wikiquote}} * [http://charlesleadbeater.net/ Charles Leadbeater's home page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110309041913/http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0%2C%2C1000026310%2C00.html Charles Leadbeater biography] at Penguin Books * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071218220153/http://www.receiver.vodafone.com/19-we-think "Welcome to We-Think" article in vodafone-receiver magazine nr.19] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070208161939/http://www.wethinkthebook.net/home.aspx Home page of ''We-think'' including a pre-release draft, the final drafts of the first three chapters and some background material] * {{TED speaker}} ** [https://www.ted.com/talks/charles_leadbeater_the_era_of_open_innovation "The era of open innovation" (TEDGlobal 2005)] * [http://inlog.org/2010/09/24/watch-charles-leadbeater-lecture-panel-at-incubate-2010/ Watch keynote from Charles Leadbeater at Incubate 2010]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbeater, Charles}} Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:British male journalists