Making the Complex Simple

It was always surprises me when someone tells me that they rarely (or never) read a book.  A 2007 NBC News survey found that roughly one American in four didn’t read a book in the preceding year.  Other surveys place the number even higher.  I would guess the true number would be shocking if the respondents were completely honest.

That whole thought baffles me.  As a kid at Bethware Elementary School, I loved going to the library.  That library contained a group of small biographies where I learned of the exploits of John Paul Jones (I have not yet begun to fight!) and Kit Carson.  At Central Junior High, teacher Betsy Wells allowed us to order paperbacks.  One of my all time favorites is Where the Red Fern Grows.  I dreamed of owning a pair of Redbone coonhounds like Old Dan and Little Ann, and following them up a creekbed while they poured it on a coon.  Reading took me from a small town in western North Carolina to the American Revolution, the Ozarks and on to the western frontier.

In high school I was keenly aware that it wasn’t very cool to read.  So, I tried to strike a balance by focusing on hunting and fishing books.  Thumbing through the old card catalog, searching for fishing books, I came across a novel by this Hemmingway guy and it doing so found myself immersed in the high literature of the Old Man and the Sea.  When I read about Santiago’s epic struggle with the great fish, as a high schooler, I couldn’t see past the fishing story (a story that is incredible).  Later, after the second or third reading, I came to realize it was more than just a story of an old man and a great fish, and I came to appreciate the writing of a story spun by a master.

These days I continue to read a variety of texts.  I bounce from non-fiction and fiction.  It is pretty rare that I don’t have a book nearby.  I read fiction for pure enjoyment and I greatly enjoy a well written tale.  I read nonfiction because I like learning new things or hearing different viewpoints.  Most of all I like to read something that inspires me to act or that expands my thoughts on the world. (Under the Overpass transformed my view of the homeless while Nickeled and Dimed opened my eyes to the plight of the working poor).

This past week at the conservation leadership academy, I led a short class on the power of storytelling in leadership.  It is a topic that fascinates me, and done well, it is one of the most effective ways leaders can connect with others.

I'm not opposed to statistics and logical reasoning.  But, we tend to throw numbers and facts at people, and then wonder why they aren’t inspired to act.  We show charts with numbers and graphs hoping to change behaviors.  We aim for the head, but vision should be cast to the heart.  Whether they are written, sung or spoken, stories connect on an emotional/relational level, helping the abstract become understandable - the complex become simple.  Simplicity makes action possible and action drives change.

It all begins with a story.