About Me
Hi, I’m Tony O’Driscoll. I was born in Youghal, Ireland. I grew up all over the world (Africa, Asia, Europe) and landed in the US in 1983. I was originally only supposed to be here for 2 years to finish high-school, but somehow ended up staying here for the past 25.
These days, I have honor of serving as a Professor of the Practice at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. During my career, I have spent a long time working and researching in the areas of organization learning, knowledge management, change management, business strategy, technology disruption and corporate innovation at places like IBM and Nortel. I have in-depth knowledge and extensive experience in optimizing and managing organizational performance and I have consulted with business leaders around the world on how to create sustained competitive advantage in an increasingly networked and knowledge-enabled global economy.
I am an active member of ISPI, ASTD and AHRD. I also currently serve as a Research Fellow for ASTD and I am a member of the Editorial Board for Human Resources Development Quarterly (HRDQ).
I have contributed to science via publications in journals such as Management Information Sciences Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Performance Improvement Quarterly and the Journal of Product and Innovation Management. I have also published articles in business publications such as Harvard Business Review, Strategy and Business, Supply Chain Management Review, Knowledge Management Review, Strategic Human Resources Review, CLO Magazine, Training Magazine, and Training and Development. I wrote Achieving Desired Business Performance, a comprehensive study of the application of Human Performance Technology (HPT) to work activity based on my dissertation work on High Performance Work Systems.
I am conscious that I have written the word “I” 16 times in the last four paragraphs and, given that I was raised in the east, I (17) am really conscious that such behavior creates an opening where the ego might want to jump in so I really need to stop this sillyness right NOW ; )
For those of you trying to track me down, given that I have been hopping around a ton lately here are my Duke Coordinates:
Dr. Tony O’Driscoll
Professor of the Practice
Fuqua School of Business
Duke University
1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708
Phone: 919-660-7772
email: to15@duke.edu
Tony, Can you pls contact me regarding our discussions about supporting IBM and the Metaverse Roadmap crew?
Thanks!
Tony Hodgson
832-385-1643
Comment by Tony Hodgson — March 30, 2007 @ 8:27 am |
Hello Tony,
We are looking for a consultant that does time and motion studies in a out door environment.
Do you have a contact and or name of 1 or 2 consultants that do this type of work (capture and analyze the data)?
Thanks,
Mark
Comment by Mark B — August 31, 2007 @ 7:09 am |
Hi Tony,
I am a real life ICU nurse and my partner in both Second Life and real life is a hospice nurse. Together with a conglomeration of health care workers and people with illnesses making them homebound we are making a group in Second Life that focuses on a very unique niche: people with terminal illnesses or debilitating chronic illnesses that results in their becoming homebound. We wish to increase the social interactions of these isolated groups and also provided support, companionship and counseling. We have a separate area that provides consumers with health care information to assist them in making informed medical decisions. The medical content of this library will be reinforced by RSS feeds providing real time medical news feeds and also “poster sessions” that will present in depth analysis on specific health care topics. The hospice park is nearly complete and the “clinic” is essentially done except for inserting the posters, news feeds and creating the content of the virtual library. We have many volunteers and plan to provide support groups for our clients. One mall owner is even volunteering space for a hospice “thrift store” to accept donations to clothe our clients as they enter Second Life. As the CEO and co-founder of this group, I plan to oversee the functions and continue to expand and add new services. We recently had our first business meeting, which although informative, also made me aware that none of our group has any real world management skills. I am considering buying business planning software soon. I also live in the San Fransisco bay area near Linden Labs and plan to see if they wish to donate a Sim for our group. I am sure we will function well, however, I am not content with merely functioning. We have recently been approached by a national hospice organization that is expressing interest in using our group for its members.
I am writing you because our group is in need of leaders with business management skills. I see from your blog you have a similar view for social networking in Second Life as my own. I wish to extend to you an invitation to visit our sites to evaluate their potential for providing virtual support to our special niche community. Any suggestions for organizational and management skills would be greatly appreciated. I would also like to offer you friendship and my support for you as a business manager of our group if you would be interested. Please contact me at the above email address if you are interested. Alternatively, you may simply contact me in Second life using my avatar name, Kaznats Oh, or our group, Healing Hands As far as I can determine, we are the only hospice organization to date in Second Life. I am including the SLURLS for both of our properties if you wish to evaluate them prior to responding. Thank You again for your time and I look forward to meeting you in Second Life.
Our Second Life Urls are:
Sandy Hook Beach 134,132,21 and
Lyonet 130,33,29
Kaz
Comment by Kaznats Oh — November 3, 2007 @ 4:09 pm |
Hi Tony,
I’m trying to get your updated contact info–I wanted to correspond with you about an ASTD program.
Thanks!
Andrew
703-683-7267
Comment by Andrew Paradise — December 10, 2007 @ 3:48 pm |
Hello Mr Tony,
First of all, Happy new year and thank you very much for your work!
It is very clear, gives a global and prospective vision of metaverse’s social and commercial future.
I’ll read your posts whenever they get published, now.
I was wondering if you would mind if i use some of your charts to emphasize my presentations.
Thanks for keeping me posted, and thanks again for nice and clear work !
BR
Dylan
Comment by Dylan Devillers — January 15, 2008 @ 6:18 am |
Hi Tony,
Ditto Dylan above.
Would love to exchange ideas with you!
Linda
Comment by Linda Nelson — January 25, 2008 @ 3:49 pm |
(this email note to the only email address I have for you bounced back)
Hi Tony – I’d like to introduce myself. I am Howie Horvath and I am a Director in the Continuing Education Office at Teachers College, Columbia University. Professor Victoria Marsick suggested I contact you as we are in the process of putting together a new Advisory Council made up of HR, OD, T&D senior executives and wanted to see if you might be interested in joining us for our initial meeting scheduled for May 1st and 2nd. Our plan is to have people travel in for a dinner event the evening of the 1st to kick things off. We’d then like to have a special guest speaker address the group on Friday the 2nd and were hoping you might be interested. You come highly recommended by Victoria and her colleagues. And as a former IBMer (8 yrs in NYC) I am certain you’d be able to share a number of very interesting, colorful and compelling stories!
Please let me know if this might be something you’d consider. I can be reached via email (horvath@tc.columbia.edu) or at 203-887-1003. I am looking forward to speaking with you.
Best,
Howie Horvath
Comment by Howie Horvath — February 18, 2008 @ 6:02 pm |
Hi Tony,
My name is Matt Baca, and I am the Director of Organizational Development for a high-tech sales company in Boulder, Colorado. I have a couple of questions regarding Organizational Development.
The first question is if you have any MA programs (in Org Dev/Org Leadership) or courses that you would recommend for someone in my situation? I have been in the training and development field for over 10 years. I currently have an MA in Adult Ed (emphasis on TESOL), but am looking for some more education to provide me with some solid pedagogy around what I am seeing in the real-world of business. I am applying for my MBA at CU Denver with an emphasis in Organizational Development/International Business (I speak Spanish and Russian). I am looking for other programs that would round out my skills.
The second, do you have any resources for companies who are looking for Org Dev consultants? I would like to move into this realm, and any resources or contacts would be much appreciated.
Thank you for your time, Tony, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Matt
720-404-8220
Comment by Matt Baca — March 26, 2008 @ 10:46 am |
Hi Tony,
it was a pleasure meeting you at SRIC-BI the other day and i hope we can keep in touch re: the enterprise track at VW Expo in LA. hope all is well and you made it back home ok
-Mimi
Comment by Mimi — April 30, 2008 @ 10:46 am |
Hiya Tony,
Was talking with Chuck and Phaedra recently.. we should catch up. Drop me an email for when it would be good to talk.
Michael
Comment by Michael Rowe — June 12, 2008 @ 7:56 am |
[...] I got on the second and last day of the vBusiness Expo Conference, at the presentation by Professor Tony O’Driscoll, Duke [...]
Pingback by MixedRealities :: We cannot think it yet, but it is there, over the horizon — July 31, 2008 @ 5:25 pm |
Tony: Stopped by to say hello. Astute comments on what is missing in the 50 virtual worlds in seven minutes. The further the video got into showing off a couple of favorities, the faster the virtual worlds flashed across the screen, until I couldn’t see any difference. Second Life stuck out because of the maturity of the characters and background scenes, perhaps the reason for that is practice, practice, practice. Live in a virtual world and suddenly you take pride in every prim. What astonished me was the quality of graphics. 3D Max, Maya and now the Crytek engine promise almost life like quality. It’s a matter of time, updating our machines to high end and the real value of these worlds is going to hit us like a lead balloon. With a short period of time, the real value in virtual worlds will turn to lauding increased productivity, measuring human performance and getting some real work done without traveling. When the applications start to flow, let’s make the best virtual worlds workplaces in 7 minutes. Until then, it’s entertaining to watch every one in the world say “me too”.
Comment by Randy Hinrichs — August 23, 2008 @ 5:13 am |
[...] Harvard Business Review’s article Leadership Online Labs by Byron Reeves, Thomas W. Malone, Tony O’Driscoll (May [...]
Pingback by Leadership Online Labs « Enduragement — August 23, 2008 @ 6:05 am |
Today, I referenced your name to Sudhir Desai, who is studying for his Master’s degree in the Studies of the Future at the University of Houston. If you can, please help him locate contacts at US Corporations that are responsible for ‘Foresight Practices’ (studying the future) for their company. Sudhir is a Business Transformation Architect and can be reached at sudhir.desai@us.ibm.com.
Hope you are doing well… I miss you!
Paula
Comment by Paula Patinella — September 18, 2008 @ 10:16 am |
Hello Tony. Attended your session at Laerning2008 and was particularly intrigued by the “rules” for use of virtual worlds in learning. I believe there nine of them but my recall is very hazy. Theu may be useful for a project I am working on here at the Department of Energy.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Michael Gilmore
Comment by Michael Gilmore — November 6, 2008 @ 8:50 am |
Dear Tony,
I am a postgraduate student of e-learning in Greece and I am looking for design principles in order to design an implement a 3D environment in Second Life suitable for teacher training. Could you please help me to find bibliography about this issue? Are there good design guidelines for such a cause?
Thank you,
Vasilis
Comment by Vasilis — January 30, 2009 @ 8:20 am |
[...] Monday Professor Tony O’Driscoll, Duke University will be one of the guests of the Metanomics show. I look forward to this because I [...]
Pingback by sellwhm.com » Blog Archive » Meet the WebVolution! — February 5, 2009 @ 11:53 am |
[...] name is Tony O’Driscoll, and I will be leading the session on Cutting Edge Trends: Technology on June [...]
Pingback by Welcome! « Duke AMP - Cutting Edge Trends: Technology — April 27, 2009 @ 10:31 pm |
Nice to have found your blog via Tony Karrer. Would like to connect wid u .
Regards,
Ruchi Bhatia
Comment by rucsb — October 10, 2009 @ 9:25 am |
[...] name is Tony O’Driscoll. I am looking forward to working with you next week to provide guidance and counsel as you prepare [...]
Pingback by Case Interview Preparation Directions « NCSU Case Interview Preparation — October 16, 2009 @ 11:26 am |