If dropped in the middle of a forest, could you find your way out? Can you perceive the story of a landscape?
Our other stories have addressed some of the interpersonal challenges between creative and analytical personality types. Acorders is following the work of Ned Herrmann's, Whole Brain Thinking. If we are better off calibrating our thinking to engage the multiple regions of our brain, what are the barriers holding us back? Acorders asks, could this be why we are here together? Is it possible our unique perspectives are designed to serve one another and therefore have a purpose?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb writes in Black Swan, the Impact of the Highly Improbable that "you need a story to displace a story". Taleb cautions us on human nature to conform to group perception and popular thinking. He suggests this narrowing of diverse thinking makes us more vulnerable in a data and information-rich world. Herrmann's work puts forward that we are stronger, and more agile when working with our complete operating system. Is that obtainable? We are all working with strengths that reside in specific quadrants or hemispheres of our brain. Have you ever tried to do a task with your non-dominant hand? There are educational courses, training, and coaching that can help. But Acorders thinking is, that there is no substitute for true and meaningful alignment with other people. The idea is that by joining our unique perspectives together in a value chain, we allow for specialization and depth of focus, without giving up our situational awareness.
Today's story is about difficult people. We're talking about a driver personality type that can see things others may not. One that can read and decipher details others miss. This archetype can make other people feel uncomfortable with their quick eyes and reflexes. They can also go places other people can not easily traverse. When activated with a cause and aligned with a diverse community, this persona can be a formidable protector and force for value creation.
The Myth
Hunting is a needless act of aggression that inflicts harm without reason. There are indeed many historical instances where overhunting has destroyed lively ecosystems and collapsed species count. But, it is also true that hunting provides balance and harmony for ecosystems. We see this archetype take many positions in the innovation value chain. Most familiar are sales, business development, or CEO. What are some of the more non-obvious? What about tinkering visionaries, inventors, and cutting-edge researchers? Hunting is about seeing and observing. The hunter uses inputs from various forms of information, equally utilizing intuition and rationale.
The Story
My father comes from a long line of hunting in our family. As a child, he required that I learn how to navigate and read terrain. For me, this education was both analytical and spiritual. It connected me back to the knowledge passed down through generations in my family. On one of our first excursions into the woods, my father told me the story of my three times, great-grandmother, Rose. Descended from Scottish settlers and native Cherokee, she grew up in North Carolina until some sad circumstances uprooted her from her home and family. At only 7-years old, Rose was alone in the world. She survived with the knowledge she carried from two generations before her. The family had avoided the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by hiding in the mountains and later raising funds to buy back some of their lands. She was able to pass down an oral history to my father. She gave him detailed instructions on how to forage and hand-make instruments for hunting. I walked along, listening to the story while holding a compass steady in my hand. My father directed me to relay any changes I noticed on the ground we covered.
It almost sounded like two different conversations going on at once. If a deer had been listening, it might not have thought we were communicating with each other. My comments or statements sounded like a stream of consciousness in bullet points. When I said something noteworthy, my father would pause the story to explain the logic around the details. "See, Hada, that rock sits there like that because...". He stopped telling me the answers at some point and began quizzing me instead. On later excursions, the lessons incorporated other observances. He prompted me to rationalize how wind, water, and sunlight left their mark on a landscape. I learned to sense changes in humidity and use that to help me locate water sources. Eventually, I learned to think like an animal. I could then read the conditions of the environment and understand how animal needs would motivate their movements.
I was a young girl then, probably not much older than my grandmother was when she left home. To this day, my husband lovingly calls me our family navigator. I have observed him over the years. He gets joy out of testing my abilities when circumstances arise. I am not a hunter, but at least one of my gifts comes from a descending line of these driver personas.
What We Do
Acorders imagines the hunter-gatherer world of our Paleolithic ancestors. There was more alignment between these roles and positions then. Of course, there is no going back, but can we pull some of that knowledge forward? Do we still have it in us? Hunters, what can a diverse lot of rich perspectives and capabilities do to enhance your endeavors? To whom are you allying and traversing? Acorders wants to help you find your people and use your story to align.
Join our community and participate in the design process with us. Acorders is building a digital experience for storytellers of impact. Taleb’s swans are the impact of the highly improbable, unimaginable. They soar from places that many of us look past. Are you capable of hatching a swan that can deliver desired impact instead of value destruction?