Kairos Cognition Founder
Francis Sopper.
Kairos Cognition Founder, Francis Sopper, engages research and experience in what our brains do for a living. The most frequent comment he gets from clients is "I wish I had known this twenty years ago, and one has said, "I'm working with you until one of us dies."
Born curious and driven
At the intersection
of discovery.
Born curious and driven, Francis has followed his polymathic interests and has spent the last three decades exploring in a multi-disciplinary way how humans manage information and transfer that information from one mind to another.
His eclectic career path has been at the intersectional discovery edges of psychology, learning, cognition, and behavioral economics.
In his own words
"Our brains aren't single unified processing systems. They're a collection of processes that do different things and those processes more or less communicate with each other. In short, our brain is a community. Sometimes, it’s a committee. Sometimes, it’s a jury. Other times, it’s a Quaker meeting. On any given day, it’s a contentious town-hall forum. Once in a while, it’s a barroom brawl."
Research meets experience
Kairos Cognition.
Harvard Graduate
School of Education
Kairos Cognition developed from a confluence of influences brought together when Patricia Albjerg Graham took over leadership of the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1982. Graham brought in classroom teachers working in the neighborhoods near Harvard and put them in conversation with some of Harvard’s foremost thinkers and researchers. Albjerg coined the term “thoughtful practitioner” to describe people working in the world under the light of research-identified best practices.
In this environment as a young teacher, Francis got guidance from Howard Gardner Ph.D. developmental psychologist, MacArthur Fellow, and author of Frames of Mind; Magdalene Lampert Ph.D. then studying how boys and girls with their teachers engaged in mathematical thinking; and from leading computer scientists at the newly formed Harvard- MIT Educational Technology Center working to develop personal computers as tools to enhance thinking and learning.
The Buckley
Lower School
In 1987, Francis took this concept to Los Angeles in his role for curriculum and staff development of the Buckley Lower School.. He invited the UCLA School of Education to place grad students in Education to partner with teachers at Buckley. During his time at Buckley, the Lower School earned numerous commendations from the Western Association of School and Colleges during its once-a-decade accreditation review.
Landmark College
In 1985, Dr. Charles Drake, Ed.D, Harvard, self described as profoundly dyslexic, founded Landmark College as a laboratory school for the development of successful learning-performance solutions for college students identified with learning disorders. Francis joined the faculty in 1992 and served as Dean of Admissions
Cognitive preference
survey development
In 1998, in his role as Dean of Admissions, Francis consulted with Robert Lefton, Ph.D., CEO of Psychological Associates and Anthony Montebello, Ph.D. of Psychological Associates, and headed up the preparation of learning-performance materials for the commercial market. The resulting cognitive preference survey underwent further revision in 2000, following evaluation by Carnegie Mellon researcher Suguru Ishizaki, Ph.D. MIT MediaLab.. The work is always under review as new data emerges from published research in neuro- and behavioral sciences together with OpenBook’s engagement with high-performing individuals
OpenBook Learning
In 2002, he joined OpenBook Learning, inc. as a founding partner and head of digital development.. He was appointed CEO in 2008, and acquired ownership control in 2016. OpenBook Learning includes an integrated English language and literacy software spun out of IBM’s Eduquest called OpenBook Academy, GTD Focus, a partnership with best-selling author David Allen to deliver his Getting Things Done individual coaching in the US and Canada and Kairos Cognition, a consulting practice for individuals who need to make decisions under voluminous information flow.
Not surprisingly, his clients come from multiple disciplines including heads of global organizations, leaders in finance, medicine, the military, media, sports, education, design, and entertainment.
Time, attention, and energy
“Do you have time
to do both?”
"People working under these conditions are getting things done typically to a high degree of effectiveness. At the same time, they bump up against the 24-hour wall.
My first question is, 'What are you doing no one else can do?'
Second is, 'What are you doing to a high level that someone else could do well enough.'
Third is 'Do you have time to do both?'
If every day ends with valuable things left drifting to tomorrow, next week, next month, then over the falls, let's talk."
Their work with Francis begins with a three-stage metacognitive process to align their time, attention, and energy. This happens through a systemic process of previewing expectations, developing a broader awareness of the dynamics in the moment, and using reflection to repeat success and redirect from suboptimal engagements.
Ultimately and, often through extended coaching, individuals increase their ability to choose their self-assessed highest value activity for each moment of the day.
Kairos Cognition is driving this concept through organizations in partnerships with management consultants, HR professionals, and others in talent management. The goal is to align an organization with kairos in order to build an organizational culture of unmatched fluidity of communication and cooperation.
Beyond the résumé
“I've read a large
number of books.”
Like Brother Gildea
It was the 70's. It was an all-boys Catholic High School run by a religious order of men. It was the dawning of the age of Aquarius. One of the older teachers -- we referred to them by the honorific, Brother -- was moved to prepare the senior boys to go out into the broader culture. Brother, let's call him Gildea. launched a course for senior boys called Love, Sex, and Marriage. I was a senior boy.
I was educated in elementary school by the Sisters of Providence and in secondary school by the Xaverian Brothers and I hold enormous respect for those dedicated women and men, which included the parish priests, who gave me a rigorous education in the classical academic subjects, set high expectations for our moral development, and beginning in elementary school pushed back against our racism, sexism, and homophobia.
And, nonetheless, Brother Gildea was in over his head. Early on one of my classmates, Joe, raised his hand. "Brother, how do you as a celibate feel qualified to teach this course?" Another quality for which I remain grateful is they encouraged us to challenge and debate. Brother was prepared for the question and responded. "One doesn't have to personally experience a thing to know a great deal about it. I have read a large number of books." I can't remember anything he said after. We had read every possible magazine and knew we didn't have a clue.
Like Brother Gildea, I've read a large number of books.
In addition,
"My first job was delivering morning newspapers on foot -- beginning in my Irish Catholic neighborhood, moving through the Chassidic neighborhood --Shabbos goy duties on Saturdays -- ending in the black neighborhood, earned my college tuition pressure testing water pipelines in my family's business including a -10F day in Agawam, Massachusetts, that my partner in that task and I still remember as the coldest day of our lives, and supported grad school painting houses.
Consequently, I spent seven years teaching third grade -- in the process practicing Richard Feyman's dictum that to really understand something, explain it to a nine year old. In my adult life, I've experienced six economic recessions, one divorce, started three businesses, had five significant shifts in job roles and responsibilities, married a second time, reared two children, moved more than 1200 miles four times, and, traveled so much internationally that I had extra pages sown into my passport.
Publications
Examples of feature stories, opinion, and poetry in:
- The Los Angeles Times
- Men’s Health Magazine
- The Associated Press News Service
- The Times-Mirror News Service
- News of the Weird
- Onthebus, Los Angeles
- Tsunami, Los Angeles
- Vermont Business Magazine
- Vermont Life
- The Winchester Star
- The Brattleboro Reformer
- NYNEX, corporate newsletter
- The Learning Network, Inc./Family Education Network
Speaking and performance
- Harvard University, panelist, joint Harvard - MIT technology conference.
- Tufts University, guest lecturer, Department of English.
- California Council of Teachers of English, Curriculum Study Commission, featured speaker
- The Improv, Santa Monica, CA, poetry performance.
- Independent Educational Consultants Association, national conference speaker.
- National Association of College Admissions Counselors, national conference speaker.
Featured in
-
Jillian Wilson
"Here's How to Have a Calmer Sunday Night"
January 22, 2023 - Joyce, Chip, INC, 2015
- Gallo, Amy, Harvard Business Review, 2012
- Bierck, Richard. “How to Listen.” Harvard Management Communication Letter 4.1 (2001): 4-5
- Thomas, Karen, “Learning Disabilities No Barrier to College” USA Today 10 December 1999: 4D
- Kim, Jae-Ha, “The motor-mouth trap” The Chicago Sun Times, March 15, 2001
- Kueston, Joan, “Are Middle and High School Students Reading to Learn or Learning to Read” Our Children October, 2002