A four-person team was standing in front of a box of assorted items. The challenge was simple: the team needed to build the tallest free-standing structure, they could, using:
- Twenty pieces of uncooked spaghetti;
- One yard of tape;
- One yard of string; and
- One marshmallow.
The team had eighteen minutes to complete the task, and the marshmallow had to end on top. No problem. The group, which, on this occasion, comprised business students, got right to work.
One member assumed the predictable role of the leader. He asked thoughtful questions and bounced ideas off the other team members to deterthe marshmallow problemmine the best strategy.
Another team member assigned tasks to others, such as assembling tape and spaghetti trusses and preparing the yard of string and marshmallow. The team was intelligent, efficient, and methodical in its approach.
And it would end up costing them.
As the eighteen-minute neared, the team assembled its structure, and moments before the buzzer sounded, the structure collapsed in spectacular fashion. The team, like many before, had failed.
Another team, by comparison, took a different approach. They talked little and favored chancing over strategy, or as one author put it, “trying a bunch of stuff together.” [1]
This team not only built the tallest structure; it also had the most interesting of the bunch. But it wasn’t business students that rose to the challenge; it was kindergarteners.
Why do kindergartens consistently outperform business students? Here’s Tom Wujec with his answer:
Business students are trained to find the single right plan. . . . And then they execute on it. What kindergarteners do differently is that they start with the marshmallow, and they build prototypes, successive prototypes, always keeping the marshmallow on top, so they have multiple times to fix when they build prototypes along the way. . . . And with each version, kids get instant feedback about what works and what doesn’t work. [Emphasis mine.] [2]
At the risk of stating the obvious, action trumps motion. While the business students overplanned and overanalyzed (motion), the kindergartners tried something and adapted to feedback along the way (action). The takeaway? Look at your current goals. Are you in motion, mistaking activity for accomplishment? Or are you taking action? [3]
Footnotes
[1] I want to acknowledge Daniel Coyle for introducing me to the marshmallow problem in his book, The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups.
[2] Build a Tower, Build a Team by Tom Wujec.
[3] I want to acknowledge James Clear for introducing me to the idea of motion vs. taking action in his book, Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.
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