This Is Water – A Discussion on Communication and OD

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This Is Water – A Discussion on Communication and OD
By Mindy Tockman and Eliot Frick

Drawing from the metaphor shared in the Internet-famous David Foster Wallace commencement address to the Kenyon College class of 2005, Mindy and Eliot will speak about how some of the most fundamental things we believe about our work are, as Wallace says, “totally wrong and deluded.” And it turns out, there are some deeper truths about how we approach our work that, while ever-present, are totally invisible to us. In particular, Mindy and Eliot will demonstrate that not only are the disciplines of Organization Development and Communications complementary, they may be and may always have been essentially the same thing. Through this talk, they believe you will come to see that this concept elucidates the path to a more compelling future for our work, and for business generally.

Bios

Eliot Frick, the CEO and founder of marketing company Bigwidesky, has long been frustrated with our calcified communications theories and business cultures that ignore and exclude the humans at the center. In addition to serving as Bigwidesky’s synthesist and futurist, Eliot is a sought-after author and speaker on topics as disparate as epistemology, political science, economics, user-centered design and media studies. It was Eliot’s TEDxGatewayArch Talk, “Geese from Bottles: Saving Business by Making It More Human,” that became a springboard for Be Human Project, a non-profit focused on emboldening leaders to experiment with human-centered practices.



Mindy Tockman, MA OD, LDCP, Organization Development Practice Director, Bigwidesky

In her previous life, Mindy Tockman owned and operated several veterinary practices in the St. Louis area. Mindy now lives in the San Francisco Bay area where she helps organizations develop leaders through courageous conversations, and helps to design organizations with strong cultures. Mindy has partnered with her brother Eliot Frick to bring Bigwidesky’s unique and multidisciplinary approach to supporting the human business to California.