A spin on Perspective
Sometimes the best solution isn’t the most obvious — Perspective
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to meet many talented individuals with a common solution in mind. Our mission — to solve a problem. Our approach…well, that’s the story.
Several months prior, I volunteered to serve as a team mentor to several of these individuals, to ensure their social campaign was informative, effective and engaging. There was the initial excitement, a collective blueprint, momentary moments of doubt, a renewed strategy and ultimately the commitment to succeed and the efforts behind that commitment.
The entire process reminded me that sometimes we must be willing to step back and look at things differently in order to get the outcome we desire. This forces us to look at things from a different perspective. Chances are, we may have to change our course of action as well.
Let me offer a little history, and maybe some insight.
The organization that served as a catalyst for this event is Goodie Nation. You can learn more about Goodie Nation here, but I can offer a quick summary as well. Goodie Nation hopes to impact over 1 billion people by 2039 by bringing awareness and innovation to social issues. These issues may include homelessness, health disparities gentrification, etc. Since technology is accelerating without any signs of slowing down and the ability to have global reach is fueled by its advancement, Goodie Nation brings together creators, innovators, influencers and everyday do gooders to hack ideas and create solutions that will have long-term positive impacts on society.
The organization launched its first hackathon in 2014 and continues towards its mission.
This past weekend’s social issue campaign — Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline. How do “We” (the community) by identifying various factors to the problem then come up with solutions to change the outcome. The issue isn’t a small one and is gaining more and more attention, discussion and open dialogue.
In her documentary The Thirteenth, Ava Duvernay explores the United States prison culture. A recent settlement to the estate of Kalief Browder, a young man wrongfully accused of a crime and after years spent in jailed committed suicide, is gaining national attention and lending to more conversations about the school-to-prison pipeline.
So, with the collaboration and guidance of Goodie Nation teams began coming up with ways to end this problem. And over the weekend 10 groups offered different solutions.
Over the course of almost 2 hours, I was able to see how different factors influenced the statistics. This issue wasn’t just a failed justice system. Dynamics that involved at-risk communities, educational institutions, family structures and a lack of available resources all played a role. It was amazing to see things from different perspectives.
I had a moment of pride when the team I worked with did their presentation. Their solution led to Our Kids Read. Our collective efforts paid off. We learned a lot from each other and I’m looking forward to seeing their campaign take off, along with the other groups as well.
So, what’s the big idea, the takeaway from this experience?
It’s that we all have ideas about how to solve a problem or arrive at a goal. Sometimes we get frustrated if things don’t happen right away or if we run into more problems along the way. This is a good time for us to remain flexible and be open to different ways of thinking. Sometimes if we step away from a problem and look at it differently, or at least be willing to, we’ll see alternative, maybe even better approaches that will lead us to the same goal we had in the first place.
Something else that made this past weekend so awesome! Black Panther won a SAG award shedding light on the power of diversity in film (see my last article about diversity.) Remember, there’s a superhero in all of us and no dream is too big or too small. So, volunteer, mentor, join a movement and be a part of something greater than yourself. We should all be using our superpowers for good. Oh, and…
#WakandaForever
Thoughtfully yours,
Tiffany
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at Change.” Wayne Dyer
