Innovation in complex social systems

Zaid Hassan

Zaid is a facilitator and writer. He is passionate about bridging divides and cultural re-generation. His work as a facilitator and writer is focused on supporting individuals, communities and institutions who recognize that new approaches are needed in order to shift contemporary intractable situations.

Zaid is a Founding Partner in Reos Partners LLP, based in London.

Before helping found Reos Partners, Zaid spent four years at Generon Consulting, where he worked on long term projects that bring together business, civil society, government and communities to innovate within complex and difficult social situations. He has worked on projects involving sustainable food supply chains in North America and Europe, child malnutrition in India, and aboriginal relations in Canada. His work involved process design, facilitation, project management and documentation. Most recently he spent extensive time in India working on the Bhavishya Alliance, a Change Lab aimed at reducing child malnutrition in India.

Prior to Generon, Zaid worked for Pioneers of Change, an international learning community of young people, aged 25-35, who have committed to systemic change. His work at Pioneers consisted of building networks, communities of practice, designing and facilitating learning programmes. Over the course of his work with Generon and Pioneers of Change Zaid has been involved in designing and facilitating several learning programmes, in countries as diverse as India, South Africa and Brazil. Zaid has a background in technology and has worked in the corporate and non-profit sectors over the last ten years.

Zaid is currently writing a book on active responses to the destruction of cultures. His most recent article is Slouching Towards Flatland part of a collection of articles questioning the MDGs, various contributions to the bestselling book Worldchanging: A Citizens Guide and Connecting to Source, an article on the U-Process for The Systems Thinker.

He is a contributing author to the ground-breaking site Worldchanging (www.worldchanging.com), where a number of his articles can be found. He writes for Shikshantar: The People’s Institute for Rethinking Development and Education in India. He has written on social change, democracy, politics, education, the global food system, and many other topics.

Zaid recently appeared on Islamophonic - the Guardian's weekly audio programme about Islam.