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Tinkering With Leadership

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Management professor Jennifer Anderson uses Tinkertoys to teach leadership and communication.

Using Tinkertoys and blindfolds, College of Management professor Jennifer Anderson teaches complex lessons of leadership and communication while students construct better understandings of their own personalities and passions.

Anderson's Tinkertoy activity places groups of three students in different roles - leader, follower and observer. Blindfolded, the follower tries to assemble an object from Tinkertoys, relying only the instructions given by the leader. The observer simply watches, not saying anything or helping in any way. Once the object is built, the observer then debriefs both leader and follower, providing feedback on where communication could be improved.

Anderson, director of the Entrepreneurship Education Initiative, says the impact of the activity tends to take a while to sink in, but often resonates years after students graduate.