The CommUnity Lab - Connecting Professional Communication Research, Practice & People

Lab Talk #10 - "When Communication Gets Mindful" with Prof. Boris H.J.M. Brummans


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Welcome to The CommUnity Lab! The knowledge transfer podcast, where we dive deep into the fascinating world of professional communication research and its application. Hosted by Danny (Daniel Wolfgruber), this podcast brings together leading scholars to explore how communication shapes workplaces, relationships, and society at large.
In each episode, we break down communication research and real-world insights, making them accessible and relevant for communication professionals, leaders, fellow scholars, students, and anyone curious about the magic of communication.
Today’s guest is Prof. Boris H.J.M. Brummans from the Université de Montréal. In this Lab Talk, we explore the concept of mindful organizing and discuss how ethnographic methods can help both researchers and practitioners better understand and improve organizational life. Boris shares insights from his own journey — including a life-altering experience in the Himalayas — and explains how Buddhist principles like interdependence and impermanence shape his thinking about communication, organizations, and society. Whether you're an academic, a practitioner, or simply curious, this episode offers a grounded and thought-provoking take on how mindfulness and method can come together.
Want to explore more? Here are five scientific publications related to today’s episode:
Brummans, B. H. J. M. (2007). Death by document: Tracing the agency of a text. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(5), 711–727. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800407301185
Brummans, B. H. J. M. (2012). The road to Rizong: Buddhist mindful organizing amid natural disaster in the Indian Himalayas. Qualitative Communication Research, 1(4), 433–460. https://doi.org/10.1525/qcr.2012.1.4.433
Brummans, B. H. J. M. (2022). Eight ways to notice mindfully in process organization studies. In B. Simpson & L. Revsbæk (Eds.), Doing process research in organizations: Noticing differently (pp. 173–194). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192849632.003.0009
Town, S., Reina, C. S., Brummans, B. H. J. M., & Pirson, M. (2024). Humanistic organizing: The transformative force of mindful organizational communication. Academy of Management Review, 49(4), 824–847. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2021.0433
Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press.
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The CommUnity Lab - Connecting Professional Communication Research, Practice & PeopleBy Daniel Wolfgruber