David whitesock
Social Architect
David is constantly curious and believes that everything connects. When we’re fully aware of what connects, we can understand the effects and modify the mechanisms in between for a greater good. As Chief Innovation Officer at Face It TOGETHER, it was David’s job to design better methods and experiences that can help solve the problem of addiction. Through that lens and with a host of personal and professional experiences, David believes we will solve addiction when we don’t solve for addiction. He is dedicated to doing work that advances towards that vision. Along the way, vastly more people will realize their connection to improving the greater good for themselves and others.
Today, David is the Founder and CEO of Commonly Well. Through Commonly Well, David is bringing the Recovery Capital Index to a wider market. And he is working with organizations to improve their care experiences, processes, and methods for measuring outcomes.
Background
David’s path to his current work has been unconventional. Yet, each moment along that path contributed to a way of thinking and seeing the world around him. David grew up in a military family in North Dakota. Unlike many military families, he did not move around that much. Despite this relative stability, David struggled to connect to others or himself. This perpetual disconnect would be a driving factor for the varied paths of his life.
David thinks about problems and solutions through a design approach. Before understanding what this truly meant, he began is journey through college as an architecture student at North Dakota State University. David absorbed a wide spectrum of design principles. Applying this knowledge was put on hold, as would completing college. David found a way to find comfort from near crippling anxiety and depression in alcohol and drugs. The progression to addiction was slow but the impact would be enormous.
As his life was spiraling, an opportunity as a radio announcer presented itself. Getting on the radio helped David find a new sense of confidence and purpose. His addiction subsided and he was able to grow into additional roles in the radio business. As a current events talk show host, David would start delving into complex community problems with leaders. These conversations would result in actual change in the community. This was an experience that was new to David, but would also have to wait before finding a place in more meaningful work.
David’s radio career would be put on hold before starting up again briefly then ending in 2005. Addiction had taken it’s full grasp. Multiple DUIs. Consistently unreliable. And terribly ill. David found himself with very little hope, few possessions, and in jail in a small south central South Dakota town. A remarkable set of circumstance and people would begin the process to a dramatic turnaround.
Six months in jail, then six months in a sober home set down a new foundation to design and build a new life. David returned to college to study communications and journalism. However, a professor who was a former public defender saw that as a waste of an opportunity. That’s to that professor, David would set his sights on becoming a lawyer. He’d graduate, get into law school, pass the bar, then convince the South Dakota Board of Bar Examiners and State Supreme Court that should be allowed to practice law. The circus on this journey would come complete when David got to return to the same courtroom with the same judge that sentenced him eight years before to take the oath of attorney.
In between those big moments, David found his way to Face It TOGETHER in 2012. Since, David has had the opportunity to reach back to all of his past experiences and harness it all into a passion for solving a devastating social and health problem — addiction. .
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I see life as a passageway, with no fixed beginning or destination. We tend to focus on the destination all the time and forget about the in-between spaces.”
/ Do ho suh - architect /
Experience
Life alone is an experience and often discounted in a world that values degrees and credentials. There are six anchor experiences that shape the way I think as a social architect.
The study of architecture. The first core concept that all young architecture students learn is: form follows function. Why are we building this thing? What is it used for? Who is it for? How does it impact the surroundings? Once you have answers to those questions, you can start to give a thing a design or a form. Designing for social problems should follow the same formula. A building, just like a business, or a non-profit, or some social program, does not live and operate independent of its surroundings. It’s part of an ecosystem. Whatever is put into that ecosystem affects the system.
The Swiss architect Peter Zumthor sums up this philosophy…
”Every new work of architecture intervenes in a specific historical situation. […] We throw a stone into the water. Sand whirls up and settles again. The stir was necessary. The stone has found its place. But the pond is no longer the same.” - PZ, Thinking ArchitectureEarly podcast entrepreneur. During the last chapter of my professional radio career, I stepped into an opportunity that I simply could not process. Podcasting was in its founding days in late 2004, early 2005. Without my day-to-day radio job I was open for something new. Some friends had started an internet marketing company, were connecting to the early podcasting scene, but needed someone who could do a show. I was a perfect fit. We quickly developed and produced five shows that gained the attention of the New York Times.
Unfortunately, I was not healthy. I could not understand the entrepreneurial moment. And I really could not process the opportunities coming our way. My addiction got worse and got in the way. The opportunity blew up. Podcasting is an enormous industry. So many lessons learned.Restarting life in Sioux Falls, SD. When I moved to Sioux Falls in 2006, I knew just one person — the guy who helped me get into a sober home. What I did not know was that this guy’s network was built around goodness. It was also a network of greater socio-economic stature that I was unfamiliar. It would take me years to understand, but what I got injected into was an ecosystem of good. This ecosystem helped me connect to individuals that would cultivate a way of thinking about gratitude, meaning, and purpose. The ripple effects were personally transformative and continue to shape my work and life. I spoke about his in my TEDx Sioux Falls talk (see above).
Law School. Going to law school or becoming a lawyer was never anything I considered as an education and career path. I didn’t know any lawyers growing up. No one in my family had ever completed a four-year degree, let alone a masters or doctorate. Only when a professor at The University of South Dakota bluntly implored me to pivot and become a lawyer did I start to think about more school beyond a simple bachelor’s degree.
Law school was a unique experience for two reasons. First, it gave me an opportunity to further learn the art of rhetoric and logical thinking and writing. Second, it cemented the notions of perspective and adversity. Together, these elements drive how I think about advocacy and storytelling.Recovery Capital Index. When I joined Face It TOGETHER in 2012, I was originally tasked with developing an affiliate program. That got upended immediately when a local healthcare system and funder challenged us to move beyond the anecdotes to data and evidence. I was asked to find a way to measure addiction recovery. This began an odyssey into data, statistics, product development, change management, and design that continues today. Ultimately, we created an instrument that was validated — it measures change in wellbeing with respect to addiction. I am now working to bring the Recovery Capital Index to the addiction, behavioral health, and healthcare world, in addition to modifying it as a general measure of wellbeing.
Addiction and recovery from addiction serve as social, environmental, and behavioral indicators in a community. These can be lagging and leading indicators to much bigger issues. Measure the determinants with data from people’s own perceptions in a community and you can begin to design better, sustainable solutions.Bush Fellowship. Thanks to the Bush Foundation in Saint Paul, MN, I had the opportunity to explore how I lead and the potential to lead in new ways. The Bush Fellowship was a unique experience filled with discomfort and discovery. Over the course of two years, I was introduced to new people and new ways of thinking. I got to spend time with some of the smartest problem solvers in the world. And, many were able learn from my story of adversity. The Fellowship continues to reveal insights and will for the rest of my life.
The amalgamation of these experiences are the motivation and prompts coupled with ever-growing ability to work toward lasting social solutions.
We underestimate the power and resilience of each individual to grow with a purpose. By building more intentional and wider connections with memorable community and market experiences, everyone will feed into a massive ecosystem of good — not for some, but for all.
