If You’re Lucky...
Photo by Hannah Drake
How much innovation is stifled because we assume things about people? For innovation to be courageous, we must be willing to invite people in that will not look like us, who may not think like us, who will have very different backgrounds than us. But that is where magic can happen.
Imaginator Summit 2022 in Denver, Colorado
I had the opportunity to share my story during a speech I gave at the Imaginator Summit held at the University of Colorado Denver that challenged various workers from all sectors to have courageous imaginations to help shape Colorado, the nation, and this world.
Photo by Josh Miller
Years ago, I worked at a company in Louisville, Kentucky, in a small office with a woman who was my supervisor. We spent most of our day in this very small office, and as I was working, she would tell me about her life and over the course of several months, she told me about a vacation she was going to take to Colorado. Every day she would talk about this trip so much so that I could hardly get a word in edgewise, and I soon learned, “Okay, this really isn’t about sharing the trip with me she really wants to just speak about where she is going on vacation.” So, I just nodded my head as I worked and let her keep talking. Then one day, she says to me, “Hannah, one day, if you are lucky, maybe you will be able to visit Colorado, and you will be able to see the mountains.”
What she didn’t know is that I did not have to worry about visiting Colorado. Going on vacation to Colorado to see the mountains was not on my bucket list because I was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I did not have to worry about lucking up and seeing the mountains every day because every day I grew up seeing Pikes Peak, and when I was 15 years old, I hiked to the top of Pikes Peak. What this woman didn’t know about me is that every college I applied to in Colorado, I was accepted, and I decided to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I graduated with honors with a degree in Communication. Boulder, Colorado, is also where my daughter was born, and in fact, my mom still lives in Colorado Springs to this day.
Photo by Josh Miller
And I simply nodded my head and continued to do my work. Instinctively, I knew the woman I worked with had made an assumption about who I was based on how I looked. To her visiting a state like Colorado could only be a dream for me. She never imagined that a young Black woman danced and dreamed among those mountains for over 20 years. By assuming and never inviting me into her world, she forfeited such an opportunity. I could have told her about Red Rocks and Garden of the Gods. I could have told her about hiking up a mountain and discovering what a timberline was. I could have told her how I made fresh lemonade from the water springing forth from the hot springs. I could have told her about that time the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl back to back and we skipped class to go to the celebration parade. I could have told her about so many adventures, places to see, restaurants to try, and brought Colorado to life.
Instead, I simply nodded and said, “Perhaps one day.”
I think about that interaction often. How we make assumptions about people based on race, gender, the way they speak, the clothes they wear, etc. How much innovation is stifled because we assume things about people? For innovation to be courageous, we must be willing to invite people in that will not look like us, who may not think like us, who will have very different backgrounds than us. But that is where magic can happen. Change doesn’t happen when we are all the same. Change happens when we dare to think differently and then act. Don’t be afraid to bring people from all walks of life to the table. Don’t count out people who don’t fit into your imagination. Dare to imagine something different. If you don’t you are missing out on some of the greatest minds in the world.