Michael D.B. Harvey was born in London and grew up in the Surrey Hills. In the 1970s he pursued a university teaching career in literary theory and cultural criticism. In the early 1980s he embarked on a career in high-tech innovation, as a corporate manager and later as an entrepreneur, pioneering online, interactive services which the internet would eventually turn into mainstream activities. In the early 1990s, disappointed with the capacity of new technology to ameliorate human behaviour, he trained as a psychotherapist and as organizational psychologist. For over 25 years he has helped to develop organizations across Europe, coaching corporate leaders and promoting creativity, teamwork and effective communication among employees at every level.

He has degrees in English Literature, Sociology, Psychology, Psychotherapy and Organizational Psychology and is the author of several books, including Interactional leadership: The art of the choice-focused leader (Routledge, 2015), Utopia in the Anthropocene: A change plan for a sustainable and equitable world (Routledge, 2019) and The Age of Humachines: The battle for humanity’s future (2024).