Mentorship

Kairos Cognition Founder, Francis Sopper, engages research and experience in what your brain does for a living. The most frequent comment he gets from clients is "I wish I had known this twenty years ago, and more than one has said, "I'm working with you until one of us dies."

Born curious and driven, Francis has followed his polymathic interests and has spent the last three decades exploring in a multi-disciplinary way how humans manage information and transfer that information from one mind to another.

His eclectic career path has been at the intersectional discovery edges of psychology, learning, cognition, and behavioral economics.

In 2002, he joined OpenBook Learning, inc. as a founding partner and head of digital development.. He was appointed CEO in 2008, and acquired ownership control in 2016. OpenBook Learning includes an integrated English language and literacy software spun out of IBM’s Eduquest called OpenBook Academy, GTD Focus, a partnership with best-selling author David Allen to deliver his Getting Things Done individual coaching in the US and Canada and Kairos Cognition, a consulting practice for individuals who need to make decisions under voluminous information flow. Not surprisingly, his clients come from multiple disciplines including heads of global organizations, leaders in finance, medicine, the military, media, sports, education, design, and entertainment.

People working under these conditions are getting things done typically to a high degree of effectiveness. At the same time, they bump up against the 24-hour wall. His first question is, "What are you doing no one else can do?" Second is, "What are you doing to a high level that someone else could do well enough." Third is "Do you have time to do both?" If every day ends with valuable things left drifting to tomorrow, next week, next month, then over the falls, let's talk.

Their work with Francis begins with a three-stage metacognitive process to align their time, attention, and energy. This happens through a systemic process of previewing expectations, developing a broader awareness of the dynamics in the moment, and using reflection to repeat success and redirect from suboptimal engagements. Ultimately and, often through extended coaching, individuals increase their ability to choose their self-assessed highest value activity for each moment of the day.

Kairos Cognition is driving this concept through organizations in partnerships with management consultants, HR professionals, and others in talent management. The goal is to align an organization with kairos in order to build an organizational culture of unmatched fluidity of communication and cooperation.

In his spare time, his wife, Susan, says, “He interrogates the universe.”