Joseph C. Bentley – husband, father, grandfather, professor, teacher, consultant, writer, friend.
- spent his early years in Mexico, learning Spanish and English together. Since 1967 he has lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, with time spent living and teaching in Mexico, Venezuela, Germany, France, and England.
- is professor emeritus of management and organizational behavior at the University of Utah, Visiting Distinguished Professor at the University of Monterrey, Mexico, and in 2010 and 2011, was visiting professor at Pepperdine University in Lyon, France.
- was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in educational and counseling psychology. At Minnesota his graduate research explored the nature of creative talent in children, and value differences between high school boys and their fathers. In 1966 he was awarded an NIMH grant which allowed him to pursue post-doctoral studies in organizational behavior and change at the NTL Institute in collaboration with Dr. Chris Argysis at Yale University among others. In 1986 he received a grant from the University of Utah which freed him to do work in creativity at Stanford and MIT. In recent years his interests have been centered in leadership, creativity, team effectiveness, organizational change, decision making and problem solving. These days, he is most interested in Wicked Problems, those messy, intractable yet extremely important problems that cannot be solved, but must be dealt with. His book, Taming Wicked Problems, is moving toward publication. He taught at the University of Utah for over 40 years. Teaching was his greatest joy, and the 25 years he spent teaching in the University EMBA program, for which he was one of the founders, were among the most satisfying.
- has been a consultant to many Fortune 500 companies including Shell Oil, AT&T, Swiss Bank, Unisys, Ford Motor (Mexico). In 1965 he spent a year in Venezuela consulting with the Department of Labor. The years 1989 and 1991 were spent in New Jersey working on culture change with the Consumer Products Division of AT&T. In Mexico, he has been a consultant to most of the large industrial groups, including ALFA, Vitro, HYLSA, CYDSA, Coca-Cola. He has taught at numerous universities in Latin America including the University of Monterrey, Monterrey Technical Institute ITESM), University of Nuevo Leon, and the Autonomous University of Venezuela.
- is considered to be the among the founders of the Organizational Development movement in Mexico (1972).
- has been married to Barbara for over 55 years, is the father of four daughters, and he and Barbara have thirteen grandchildren. He considers the time spent with family as precious.
- is spending his retirement years finishing his book, Taming Wicked Problems, speaking, and consulting with organizations.
- spends as much time as possible hiking in the red rock country in Southern Utah, and makes his home during July and August each year on Wildhorse Island, Flathead Lake, Montana.
- cannot claim to be a poet, but writes poetry anyway. His book, The Wedding Poems, includes poems written for each daughter on her wedding day.
- is passionate about classical music; plays guitar, ukulele, harmonica, and at one time played the viola and sang bass in barbershop quartets (but not at the same time).
- his play, The Cellist of Sarajevo, has been performed in the United States, France, Mexico and Guatemala. His newest play, Fuzzies and Sharpies, written for and performed by his children, spouses, grandchildren, and friends, is awaiting revision.