We help organizations manage uncertainty.
The Creators
The Flow System is founded by John R. Turner, Ph.D., researcher of team science, complexity thinking, leadership, and decision making at Texas A&M University, Nigel Thurlow, the CEO of The Flow Consortium, and Brian “Ponch” Rivera, a retired U.S. Navy Captain and former “TOPGUN”.
The Creators
The key individuals involved in the creation of The Flow System have independently led global transformational initiatives or are recognized for major contributions to the scientific and business worlds.
Dr. John R. Turner is an associate professor at Texas A&M University in the School of Education and Human Development for the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development. He began his career as an engineer, where he was employed by Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) for 15 years. He worked in the power generation services division and traveled throughout the United States and internationally (China, two years; South Korea, 1-1/2 years; Argentina, six months). He is the co-creator of The Flow System and co-author of “The Flow System Playbook,” “The Flow System: The Evolution of Agile and Lean Thinking in an Age of Complexity,” “The Flow System Guide,” and “The Flow System: Key Principles and Attributes.” Professor Turner is the current Editor-in-Chief for the refereed publication titled Performance Improvement Quarterly and has published more than 80 articles in various journals and book chapters. He co-founded The Flow Consortium, LLC, and Performance Development Network, LLC. Dr. Turner’s research focus includes complexity thinking, decision making, distributed leadership, leadership development, multilevel analysis, organization development and change, team science, and theory building and testing.
Nigel Thurlow is the creator of the award-winning Scrum the Toyota Way approach and the CEO of The Flow Consortium. He previously served as the first ever Chief of Agile at a global Toyota company leading Lean and Agile practices at Toyota Connected, as part of a 20 year career with Toyota. It was through his work at Toyota that The Flow System idea formed and developed with the University of North Texas. As an author, Thurlow was named a Forbes top 10 author for co-authoring the book the first Flow System book in 2020. He has recently co-authored The Flow System Playbook published in 2023, which presents a practical study guide and reference book to all the concepts covered in the first book. He is extensively peer reviewed, and together with Turner he has coauthored a number of peer review scientific papers on business topics.
Learn more about Nigel here: nigelthurlow.com.
Brian “Ponch” Rivera is a former U.S. Navy TOPGUN (F-14 instructor and demonstration team member) and a retired Captain. He holds a masters in Leadership and Operational Design as well as an MBA. Following the 2017 U.S. Navy incidents at sea, "Ponch" led engagements with academics and executives on the topics of complexity, leadership, teamwork, safety, and culture for the 2018 Strategic Readiness Review of Industry Best Practice and Learning Culture. Rivera is also a deep expert in high performing teaming (HPT), High-Flow coaching, John Boyd's OODA loop, and is the co-host of the podcast No Way Out. In 2024, he has been added to the Who's Who in America guide in recognition for his work.