John is also a serial entrepreneur. He is Chairman and owner of the famed Ealing Studios in London, and is the architect of Ealing’s digital and international strategies. He is currently leader of Project Avalon which is designing a new media entertainment complex for an Asian government. He is also chairman of NeoSpine, Inc., a disruptive innovator in the field of spine surgery. He founded The Idea Factory, which has generated a well-known toolbox for firms seeking to embed innovation in their organizations. John’s team of consultants has served clients worldwide, including the US Navy, Citibank, the Government of Singapore, American Express and UPS. John was also co-founder of Escador, a leading Pan-European e-services company, and has also founded successful companies in areas such as advanced tissue engineering, next generation cancer diagnostics, and feature film production. Currently, he pursues his business startup activities as CEO and principal of Kao Studios, a firm that combines innovation, talent, and resources to launch new breakthrough businesses.

John is well-known as a thought leader in the innovation field. He is author of Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, a BusinessWeek best-seller that has been published in twenty languages. He recently contributed a chapter to the Drucker Foundation monograph entitled Innovation (2001). He is also co-editor of Innovation (1997), published by HarperBusiness as part of its Business Masters series. His other publications include the monograph Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Organization (1989) and the book series Managing Creativity (1991), The Entrepreneur (1991) and The Entrepreneurial Organization (1991), all published by Prentice Hall. His research on Chinese entrepreneurial networks was published in the Harvard Business Review and has been widely cited.

After apprenticing to rock legend Frank Zappa, Kao has continued to be active in the entertainment industry as a producer and entrepreneur. He served as production executive on sex, lies, and videotape (Miramax. Steven Soderbergh director, Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival), executive producer Mr. Baseball (MCA/Universal, Fred Schepisi director), and producer of Golden Child, which was produced on Broadway and nominated for three Tony awards, including Best Play. He produced and directed a feature length documentary film based on Jamming. He financed the off-Broadway production of August Wilson’s Jitney and is now working on a Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, the Rogers and Hammerstein musical with noted theater producer Benjamin Mordecai.

John was recently named an Honorary Vice-president of Arts and Business in the UK as well as a Fellow of the RSA. He is on the Board of Governors of The Chinese Heritage Centre in Singapore, and a director of the ZeroOne Foundation in San Francisco. In the recent book 1000, John was named one of the one thousand most creative individuals in the United States.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kao was trained in both psychiatry (Yale College, Harvard Medical School) and business (Harvard Business School).