Don Tapscott

Don Tapscott CM is a Canadian business executive, author, consultant, and speaker, who specialises in business strategy and digital transformation, and its impact on businesses and society. 

Don holds a B.Sc. in Psychology and Statistics and an M.Ed. specialising in Research Methodology from the University of Alberta. He ran for mayor of Edmonton in the 1977 municipal election on behalf of the Revolutionary Workers' League. 

Don holds three honorary degrees—Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)—granted by the University of Alberta in 2001, Trent University in 2006, and McMaster University in 2010. 

He is the CEO of the Tapscott Group and the co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Blockchain Research Institute. Don is the former Chancellor of his alma mater Trent University and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Technology and Operations Management at INSEAD Business School.

Don has authored or co-authored sixteen books on the application of technology in business and society. He regularly contributes his ideas and thoughts to The Huffington Post, Business Week, Time, and The Globe and Mail. 

Don is also a pianist in the band, Men in Suits, a Toronto-based band of business executives. 

Don Tapscott is one of the world’s leading authorities on the impact of technology on business and society. He has authored 18 books, including Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, which has been translated into over 25 languages.

Beginning in the 1970s, Don became an advocate for social change, organising against the Vietnam War, and racism, and advocating for the rights of women, gay people and indigenous people. In 1977, as a student he ran for the Mayor of Edmonton, not to win but to raise important issues in a hotly debated election.

Don has been advancing groundbreaking concepts for over 3 decades. His 1992 bestseller, Paradigm Shift, helped coin this seminal management concept, and The Digital Economy, written in 1995, changed business thinking about the transformational nature of the Internet. Two years later he helped popularize the terms “Net Generation” and “the Digital Divide” in Growing Up Digital. 

In 2013, Don launched The Global Solutions Network, a multi-million dollar research programme, on new multi-stakeholder models for global cooperation, problem-solving, and governance. 

In 2016, Don co-authored the definitive book about blockchain with his son, Alex Tapscott. 'Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing the World' was published in May 2016 and is, according to Harvard Business School’s Clay Christensen, “the book, literally, on how to survive and thrive in this next wave of technology-driven disruption.” 

In 2017, Don and Alex co-founded the Blockchain Research Institute, whose 70+ projects are the definitive investigation into blockchain strategy, use cases, implementation challenges, and organisational transformations. 

Don Tapscott is one of the world’s most sought-after speakers on the topic of tech in business and society. He has keynoted over 1000 conferences and is one of the few speakers to have given two TED Talks. He appeared as a hologram on an Antractic Cruise on Dec 31, 2021. Some of the prolific themes of his speeches include bold and creative responses for growth in the global economic crisis, the social and business impact of the Net Generation, and the strategic value of information technology. 

Don is a member of the Order of Canada and is ranked the second most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. He is an Adjunct Professor at INSEAD and former Chancellor of Trent University in Ontario. It is hard to imagine anyone who has been more prolific, profound, and influential in explaining today’s technological revolutions and their impact on the world.

Don is an advocate of decentralised and emerging technologies. He wrote in his book 'Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything' that was published in 2006:

“Peering succeeds because it leverages self-organization—a style of production that works more effectively than hierarchical management for certain tasks.”

In one of his Ted talks, Don highlights that the recent generations have been bathed in connecting technology from birth, says futurist Don Tapscott, and as a result, the world is transforming into one that is far more open and transparent. He believes that an open world can be a far better place for everyone.