Writing
Flourishing as a design problem.
Carson's peer-reviewed chapter with Michael Pirson, Ph.D., appears in Routledge's Flourishing by Design at Work in Q1 2027. The research below carries that work forward through Compassion 2.0.
Cover mock-up
Research & Publications
Organizational Flourishing and the Neurobiology of Organizational Design
Forthcoming Q1 2027 | Routledge / Taylor & Francis
Carson D. Kelly has co-authored a scholarly contribution to Flourishing by Design at Work, an upcoming peer-reviewed academic volume edited by Jenna Mikus, Yoko Kawai, and Jasmien Herssens and published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis).
Co-authored with Michael Pirson, Ph.D., Professor at Fordham University and a leading scholar in humanistic management, the chapter explores the relationship between human neurobiology, relational dynamics, and organizational design.
The work introduces the Organizational Flourishing Construct and examines how the conditions of organizational life—particularly trust, psychological safety, relational resonance, and institutional design—shape the capacity for individuals and organizations to flourish.
Rather than treating flourishing as an outcome to be pursued independently of organizational structures, the chapter considers how flourishing can become an intentional design requirement.
The work reflects Carson's broader research and practice at Compassion 2.0, advancing a central proposition:
Organizational flourishing is the framework for measurable organizational performance in an age of AI.
Addresses
Graduation Keynote at Mount Madonna School
June 11, 2026 · Carson D. Kelly
Current inquiry
Lines of work in development
These are the threads Carson is presently pursuing through Compassion 2.0—described as they are, in progress.
The Neurobiology of Organizational Design
An emerging body of work examining organizations as environments that continually influence human nervous systems—and asking how the design of leadership, structure, incentives, technology, and interaction shapes the human capacities available to an organization.
The ROI of Care
A framework in development for understanding the relationship between investments in human and relational capacity and measurable organizational performance—treating trust, psychological safety, relational capacity, repair, collaboration, adaptability, and creativity as contributors to an organization's capacity to perform.
ORGLAB
A developing Compassion 2.0 initiative intended as a multi-year collaboration among organizations, researchers, practitioners, and leaders, moving the work from theory into applied organizational experimentation.
AI and the Flourishing Age
A current inquiry into the changing nature of human value in an age of artificial intelligence, and the working thesis that as AI commoditizes process, flourishing differentiates value.
If a thread here bears on something you are working on, Carson is glad to hear about it.