“the importance of storytelling to leadership – not because stories are more true than other forms of communication, but because, well chosen and well told, they convey a kind of condensed truth.”
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of historical records. The passing of stories is in many ways how we collected information before keep written records. However, like a game of telephone the original story is never the same one that ends up reaching the end. In many cases some of the most important stories were never told. Take for example the movie Hidden Figures. The most important and intelligent people working for nasa were African American Women. However, their narratives for centuries have been excluded. Many stories have died with the people who made them. This is the misrepresentation that story telling can arise when we cut stories from our past.
I also thought about how skewed stories could become throughout time from their original form It made me wonder if any of the stories I have been told were changed, censored, or in any way different to fit the times and context.
I agree with you on the erasure of stories, particularly of minorities or disenfranchised groups. I think it is interesting to think about the implications of that. We are evolutionarily drawn towards the tall white man with the deep voice, but what if everyone was exposed to a more diverse set of leaders from a young age? I think this would help counteract our evolutionary bias.
I agree with you that some stories tend to get lost or miscommunicated over time, especially for certain groups over others. I think that if certain stories weren’t glossed over or forgotten, we would have a much more accurate view and interpretation of our society.
Another interesting thing about Whitewashing through stories that a class of mine has talked about, is how when we read novels and envision the characters, we tend to white-wash them. We assume a standard white individual is the default until told otherwise.