My reflection blog this week is a reflection on the video by Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story. Reflect on her message in comparison to the course information.

Adichie is a novelist who defines if we only hear a story about another person a specific way, it could be misunderstood.

Assumptions

Adichie began her story talking about how she would write stories, based on what she had learned from the British and American books she read as a child. She assumed her stories needed to have the same characteristics based on those books. An example is that all her characters had to have blue eyes, nothing like hers. I can relate to here story on a leadership level. If we tell a story enough time it becomes reality, even if there is doubt in the information being told. (Adichie, 2009)

This type of story reminds me of the power of assumption based on limitation of information. I was born and raised within a very small coal-mining town in southeast Kansas. There was the movie with actress Sissy Spacek called “Coal minors daughter”, a biography of famous singer Loretta Lynn, who went from extreme poor to fame. (Rickman, Vecsey, & Lynn, 1980) Although the story is very powerful about overcoming obstacles and working hard, it really is not a true indication that all girls from a coal town will have that much fame and fortune. The story is told from a single person’s point of view, create a danger of false information that all girls that can sign from a small coal-mining town will be successful. When it comes to children, we have to be careful with the type of stories we tell to ensure they are not biased and leave the wrong opportunity of creating false thoughts or ideas.

Perception

Adichie provides a story that is plaguing todays political rhetoric regarding immigration of Mexicans in the United States (U.S.), which provides emotions of “pity towards other people”. Her example is toward the Mexicans “sneaking across the boarders, fleecing the healthcare system, and being arrested left fear within her.  She had an opportunity to visit the country and was very much ashamed. She realized the people there were “working people, who enjoyed laughing”. She bought into the ideas of this country based on what she was told. (Adichie, 2009)

Although Adichie story was told in 2009, it is a topic that is still going seven years later within the U.S. Presidential debates where pity has turned to anger, and there is a urgent need to build this huge wall on the boarder of the two countries to keep the Mexicans out. The stories are similar, but a good portion of the anxiety of Americans is why can’t the Mexicans just become naturalized citizens. That way everyone pays taxes, shares the benefits, and all around it’s the correct thing to do. Because the stories are told from the political power, there is only enough information provided to persuade people to vote for the specific candidate.

American Immigration Council in 2013 stated that over 1.3 million Mexicans were requesting citizenship in the U.S., however the country is only allowed to take in 47,250 a year.  The U.S. immigration process cannot handle the magnitude of Mexican immigrants trying to become a citizen. I personally feel that politicians tell what they want people to hear and it becomes the real state of the problem.  My personal opinion is there are many other reasons to have a tighter border control, but building a wall is a bit dramatic and just stating that Mexicans don’t want to become citizens is not completely correct. (American Immigration Council, 2013)

The story of Mexicans coming into the U.S. is being told many different ways, depending on the storyteller’s vested interest. Adichie states if “we show one thing as one thing, over and over again, that is what it becomes”. Personally the presidential debates are full of storytelling and they leave me confused. I am a die hard republican, but based on all the stories, I am not sure I personally trust any of them.

Power behind the story

Power of how a story is told will also give a different meaning. Adichie shared an example of starting the story about Native Americans, verses the arrival of the British, creating a different story. An example from work as a planner who tracts program performance statistic, my story results are different based on how I begin the story. The overall power is to define results, good and bad.  If I begin a meeting telling the team about their anomalies and errors, I begin telling them they are failures.  If I begin the meeting by telling them how well they improved, even if it’s a failure, I gave them a feeling of successful progress and opportunity to keep improving.  I learned this a couple years ago when I requested feedback from a person who was attending my meeting. They let me know they felt like they were always in trouble, and I seemed stressed and upset. That was a surprise to me as I am the happy person, but that is not the power behind the intent of my stories. I think you have to be very carful with the dangers of losing your audience and not always be negative in their presence, as it will be a representation of you the individual. I specifically make sure I always provide a positive experience or story before starting a meeting, as it sets the power behind the intent.

Conclusion

This week we learned about springboard stories and they are used to “spring the listener enthusiastically into a new future” (p60) (Denning, 2011). I felt like Adichie story was impactful for a simple goal of sharing how single story telling can leave people misunderstood. The value I received from this video overall is my own persecution of how I tell stories to benefit my ideas. I think with experience and listening, my beliefs and values are very strong, but my overall view of different cultures are based on experiences.

I have been fortunate to have travel to many countries, outside the U.S., with the military.  I had a similar experience when I visited Turkey, plagued with the idea that women have not rights and men are known to make the rules of the home. I had an assumption and a perception based on what I was told or read. My experience was totally the opposite as women were business owners, active in the home and community.  So for me the overall danger of telling single stories is leading the audience in the wrong direction and  creating paradigms of misinformation.

References:

Adichie, C. (2009). The danger of a single story. Retrieved April 2, 2016, from TED Talks: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

American Immigration Council. (2013, March 14). Why don't they just get in line? Retrieved April 2, 2016, from American Immigration Council: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/why-don’t-they-just-get-line

Denning, S. (2011). The Leaders Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Worsley, W. (Producer), Rickman, T., Vecsey, G., Lynn, L. (Writers), & Apted, M. (Director). (1980). Coal Miners Daughter [Motion Picture].