The Specific is Universal
Like most catchy phrases that appear to contradict themselves (Less is more, Cruel to be Kind, Orange is the New Black), the first time I heard the advice, “The Specific is Universal” I found myself nodding in absent-minded agreement, but it took me a while to understand how it actually works.
Recently I was working with the board of a nonprofit foundation that works to eliminate poverty and ensure equitable access to resources. Our goal was for each of the board members to come up with a specific story about why they, personally, felt compelled to take part in that work and then use those stories to build stronger relationships and increase engagement with their mission. As is usually the case, the first pass at their stories tended to use vague, “high level” language: “I care about ending poverty” or “Equitable access to resources is important to me”. These phrases got the other members of the board nodding in agreement, but I doubted that these sentiments would have much effect outside of the group of people who already shared these beliefs. In other words, yes, the language they were using resonated with people like them, but it wasn’t persuasive.
A lot of times people don’t see the need to use specific details in their stories, or worry that, if they do use specifics, they’ll alienate parts of the audience that don’t share that experience. The idea being that a general or “big picture” story would be more relatable to a wider audience. And, yes, a big picture story is important. It’s a great way of seeing where you’ve been and where you need to go. It allows you to move forward with clarity and focus on your big goals. But this approach tends to work better when communicating with an audience that already shares your goals and wants to feel included. It doesn’t, however, work so well when you are trying to inspire a change in thinking. This is because distancing yourself from the specifics to capture the “big picture” cuts you off from the emotional aspects of your story, and emotion is key when inspiring action.
In the workshop with the non-profit board, I gently pushed them to talk more about why they cared about the general statements they had made. One of them told me a story about how, upon moving to the United States, he was shocked to see the masses of people living on the streets in a nation that he knew to be far wealthier than the one from which he came. Another told a story of working at a radio station in the Bay Area with co-workers who were experiencing homelessness because of the absurdly high rents in the area. These specific events had an emotional impact on the people telling the stories and hearing those stories had an emotional impact on the rest of us as an audience. The reason that the specific is universal in storytelling isn’t because we’ve all had those specific experiences, it’s because specific language hooks us into the story and makes it easier to imagine what it would be like to be in that position.
While vague language allows you to feel comfortable—to basically make of it what you will and stay in your own safe space—specific language pulls you out of that space and invites you to imagine yourself in the shoes of another. In that imaginary change of circumstance, there is the possibility to change one’s mind. So, next time you’re talking about what you do, and you see the eyes of your audience start to glaze over, try inviting them into your perspective by giving them the details that will allow them to imagine your experience for themselves. The big picture story will be meaningless without building an emotional connection to inspire action.
