Marshmallows and Leadership

What do 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, and one yard of string, and a marshmallow have in common with Christian leadership? Tom Wujec, a fellow at Autodesk, describes this “marshmallow challenge” as an experience of "forced collaboration." The premise is simple—groups of four attempt to build the highest structure using the aforementioned materials in only 18 minutes.

Most of the groups tended to begin by orienting themselves to the task, and thus making a plan. With the crunch of the 18-minute limit, most groups’ plans ended in “uh-oh” moments. Business students’ structures were some of the most likely to fall because college trained them to find the "single right plan.” Those with specialized skills (engineers) or kindergartners tended to do well. Kindergartners did well because they learned from the iterative process—making prototypes and seeing they worked, rather than planning the whole process.

Once Wujec offered a 10,000 dollar prize to see what would happen in the experience. When the pressure was on, not one group had a standing structure. When given a second chance, the groups finally learned the value of protyping.

Thus, Wujec concluded that generally Specialized Skills plus Facilitation Skills=Success. Even more, Wujec argues, “Every project has its own marshmallow.”

Normally I'm usually not a “fan” of business oriented models of leadership, but in this case Wujec is onto something. What if Christian leaders actually placed people based on gifting rather than need alone? What if we moved away from trying to “find the one plan” and sought to work together

Vision: Sipping Our Lattes or Losing Our Lives?

“Vision affects everything. That’s what visions do. If the focus of the church is on having a large crowd in a big place where people can come and feel warm and welcomed, then you and I will plan accordingly.” –David Platt

I had originally wanted to write a post about the relationship between secular leadership models and Christian leadership models. But upon reading this article, the above quote struck me as being the answer to the relationship between “secular” and “Christian.” Many of the methodologies used in the business world “can be” effective in the church (take our class discussion on servant leadership). Yet, I still am among many that say there is a fundamental difference between leadership in the church and leadership in the business world.

The fundamental difference is “vision itself.” The business world has a specific vision of what their company can be. Starbucks' “vision” is to, “Establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world and become a national company with values and guiding principles that employees could be proud of.”

The Church’s (both big C and small c) vision does encompass values and guiding principles—but those ought to encircle God and His glory. Because God is the center of Christian vision, business leadership methodologies and Christian leadership methodologies ought to begin to diverge. If vision indeed affects everything, our priorities in leadership ought to be quite different from the business world.