David Beaver is a Professor in the Departments of Linguistics and Philosophy, Director of the Cognitive Science Program, and Graduate Advisor for the HDO Master’s program. Dr. Beaver has over twenty years of experience as a professor and public speaker. As well as leading regular university classes from freshmen to advanced graduate students, he has taught a 10-week​ Continuing Studies class at Stanford University on metaphors, as well as several distance learning courses. He frequently gives presentations and consults with outside groups, ranging from high schoolers to military, legal, and commercial groups.

There is always a tension between culture and profits, paying the bills and being personally fulfilled at work. Danny Gutknecht, CEO of Pathways, has been exploring how to tune and resolve the dissonance between the two for over 30 years. His book, Meaning at Work and Its Hidden Language (Aviri Publishing, April 10, 2017), describes the journey of finding and utilizing methods and models that empower individuals and organizations to wield the power of meaning in the work environment.

Bijoy Goswami is a steward of meaning. He helps individuals, organizations and cities on their journeys by synthesizing and sharing meaning methods and models. These include Bootstrap & JOurneY Methods and MRE, ATX Equation and Human Fugue Models. By learning and applying these tools, beings become uniquely expressed and aligned with themselves. Bijoy makes his home in the City of Meaning: Austin, TX.

We will begin by introducing a new framework for talking about personal and organizational meaning, a framework that has been successfully applied in dozens of organizations from small startups to Fortune 500 companies. At the core of this framework is a set of techniques centering around the Essence Mining interview, techniques that can help unpack the hidden meanings underlying the easy descriptions of work and self that first come to mind.

We will show the value of these techniques with case studies of how organizational narratives have evolved​ and their impact on individual and organizational effectiveness. Finally, we will work with seminar participants to chart a course for exploring meaning in their own lives, careers, and organizations.

Location: Online
Upcoming Course(s): November 2, 2022
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 0.6 CEUs will be awarded upon completion of this program (six hours of instruction)
Registration Deadline: October 28, 2022

One-Day Seminar Pricing:

• Standard Registration: $1,000
• UT System Staff/Alumni Registration: $650
• Educator, Nonprofit, Government, Military Registration: $650

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If you have questions prior to registering, please see our Professional Training FAQ or contact Leslie Dill, HDO’s Business Development & Marketing Coordinator, at leslie.dill@utexas.edu.

The majority of participants in our Seminars and Certificate Programs are mid- and upper-level professionals working in the business, nonprofit, government, or military sectors; however, professionals at all levels of experience are welcome to participate. There are no prerequisites for enrolling in an HDO Professional Seminar.

While all HDO Seminars are developed with wide-ranging applicability in mind, the following individuals and groups will likely find Telling Your Story: Crafting an Honest, Effective Organizational Narrative most directly relevant to their work:

• Senior/Executive Leadership
• Middle Management
• Team Leaders & Supervisors
• Marketing/Public Relations Directors & Managers
• Human Resources/Talent Management/Recruiting Directors & Managers
• Employee & Customer Engagement Consultants