Who would have thought that a simple experiment which included a marshmallow, pasta, string, and tape could tell so much about kindergarteners and recent graduates of businesses colleges? In this video blog analysis I will be answering and addressing the following five (5) questions below:
Do you agree with Tom Wujec's analysis of why kindergarteners perform better on the Spaghetti Challenge than MBA students?
I don’t think I could agree more with Wujec’s analysis. I am currently in the College of Business (even though I am not studying to get my MBA) and I know that we are often taught the right way to do things and it can be hard to see things outside of the box whereas with kindergarteners, their minds haven’t been filled with rights and wrongs by other people’s standards. Now I am not implying that all MBA students leave their programs with a sense of close-mindedness but I am saying that as adults we tend to lose the ability to see things for what they really are often leading to more complicated situations than are necessary. Children have neither inhibitions nor are they trying to over analyze a project, instead they are trying to have fun with the tools given to them. Each child brings a new idea to the table they also are not afraid to dive in continuously use the trial and error method regardless if their ideas look silly to others, to them its genius each time (Wujec, 2010).
Can you think of any other reasons why kids might perform better?
Children don’t over think things. Children often jump right in and try whereas adults we want to sit back and think about the best way to approach the problem. Where would we be if we always thought about what the right way to do something was and where would we be if we didn’t? The act of trying and experimenting is what has led to amazing inventions and allowed for the human race to evolve. Children naturally have the ability to do that and for some reason we, adults, push children in the opposite direction.
In your view, why do CEOs with an executive assistant perform better than a group of CEOs alone?
Being on the top doesn’t mean you do all the dirty work but instead oversee the operations where as their assistants are in the “thick of things” working with others and seeing situations from many different perspectives. I know that when I was an executive assistant I often knew more about what was going on than my boss and it was an interesting dynamic. I also had the ability to slow her down when things got chaotic and she would come to be for those types of moments as well. I think for this type of experiment, the assistants help to bring a sense of calmness to the situation for the CEOs which allows them to stop and look at the situation from a bigger perspective than just as a problem they have to fix right that very minute.
If you were asked to facilitate a process intervention workshop, how could you relate the video to process intervention skills?
I would definitely use this process in any intervention workshop because I think it forces people to get the creative juices flowing. I don’t think the word, process, needs to be included, because although it is a process it is also a bridge that allows for people to think about situations differently and open up their minds to different possibilities and outcomes. As adults we want to be the first person to find the right path from the start but it’s this type of intervention that forces us to put being first aside and instead enjoy the learning experiences along the way.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
Stop trying to fix the problem but attack the problem, get my hands dirty, and learn from each failed attempt until I get it right. The reason kindergarteners excel at this type of experiment is because they don’t think about it, they just start doing what they think is right and when it’s wrong they move on the next possible path. At one point in my life I was the free-spirited person but like many I lost it along the way. I think I need to stop being so hard on myself when I don’t get it right away but also not give up when I don’t get it either. I should always set obtainable goals and when one path fails, I move on to the next and then to the next without stopping to think that way I can make sure I leave my inhibitions at the door and open my mind to something new and exciting.
References
Wujec, T. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html
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