For this
story I am going to use Denning’s example (Leaders Guide To Storytelling pg.
186-187) of how a positive story from the past in someone’s memory can become a
learning experience which can one day save their lives or the lives of others.
As a child I
grew up in New York City, there were many years when we had very extreme
winters. Driving in the city during the winters was never easy, people had to
be extremely careful and have prior knowledge on how to react in case of an
emergency. When I was a kid at one point my dad was a cab driver; being that he
was a cab driver he had extensive knowledge of driving around in the city and he
knew the safest way to handle every emergency.
I remember
that as a kid he would always tell me safety tips about driving and what to do
in different situations. He once told me about an incident where the
temperature had fallen below freezing, there was a lot of moisture on the
ground because some of the snow that was already out had melted while the sun
was out. At the time he did not realize it but all of this moisture on the
ground had frozen over and became black ice. While driving around that night in
his big white 1980’s era Lincoln town car he would run into a surprise that he
would be ready for.
He told me
that he was driving on the highway around two in the morning, there was almost
no one out on the road which was surprising for NYC. As he was making a turn on
the highway he felt his car start to drift, he immediately knew not to panic
and he said that he calmly and continuously tapped the brakes on his car. He
eventually came to a stop in the middle of the highway after sliding in circles
for a couple of hundred feet. He felt lucky but he knew that if he had panicked
and slammed on his breaks he would have slid right into a brick wall which
lined the side of the highway. This stuck with me as a child because it was one
of the few stories which my father’s life had been in danger.
As a kid it
was uncommon to learn how to drive in the city so I never got the chance to
have my dad teach me how to drive, I am sure that he would have been a great instructor.
I joined the military at the age of eighteen and by nineteen I was able to
afford my own car. I taught myself how to drive which was kind of scary but
with the help of a few friends I ended up being just fine.
When I was twenty
years old my duty station was switched from Bremerton, Washington state to Pensacola
Florida. I was excited to leave the north and I had to find a way to get my car
to Florida so I decided that I would make a cross country trip and experience something
new. I decided I would stop by home in New York first though, it would be a
good halfway point where I can relax for a couple of days.
I decided to
drive across the northern portion of the United States during December in a
Ford Focus. This probably was not the best idea, but the views I had seen where
breath taking and worth all of the trouble. It seemed that I was doing just
fine until I got to Montana; it was a great drive and it seemed like there was
a lot less snow. It was sunny and I thought that all was good, little did I
know that the temperature outside was well below freezing and I would run into
some black ice myself. As I was making a big turn on this highway I started to
realize that my car was turning by itself. I was sliding out of control at
about sixty-five miles per hour and it was a scary feeling. I almost began to
panic but then for some reason I thought back to my dad’s experience while
sliding on ice. I calmly tapped my breaks and eventually I slowly came to a
stop, on this day there were also no other cars on the road. I quickly turned
my car around and continued on the highway, my life had been saved.
I felt so
lucky and I immediately called my dad and told him what happened, he was happy
that I was still alive and doing well. His story had such a huge impact on me
and it became such a good learning experience that I was able to react the
correct way when faced with an emergency situation. Stories like this can have
a big impact on people, stories like this are a great way to learn valuable
lessons which might come in handy one day when you least expect it.
Reference:
-
Denning,
S. (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline
of business narrative. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass
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