Skills:
Every business or nonprofit movement requires continuous assessment by its team to grow in the right direction. At the heart of this assessment is a "systems" view, understanding that no one part of anything can be viewed in isolation from its broader system.
We discussed principles from the following video presentations:
Eric Berlow: Simplifying Complexity
(3.5 min video on systems analysis from ecologist’s perspective)
A Systems Story
(4 min. really great video.)
Tom Wujek: Got a Wicked Problem? First Tell Me How You Draw Toast
(excellent activity in systems thinking and collaborative visualization)
We then explored systems analysis using Tom Wujek's Draw Toast Activities, starting with drawing the process for making toast. Here is the classes favorite picture, Jin's alternative #2, in which a mother gives birth to a baby and simply names her/him "Toast."
Each Student approached the step-by-step analysis differently. We could see how each person's unique approach to this process contributed different elements that could be used in creating a comprehensive, better collaborative process. We tried this with another process dear to the hearts of our Students: "how should parents assign chores to their children?"
The Students started by mapping this process individually, and then breaking out into teams of four to collaborate on a group design. One unique team proposal included a "level-up" approach from video gaming in which the children choose to take on a more challenging set of chores for a reward. (Parents, take note.)
Thomas took on the tool of collaborative visualization in exploring possible flavors for his cactus juice. He and a group of students wrote out their best ideas on colored cards and then used clustering and laddering to arrange the best ideas and come up with news ones.
Guest:
Rob Brunt of Blueline Services.
Like our Students, Rob jumped into entrepreneurship in high school. He joined DECA and took his marketing presentation to wins at the state and regional championships.
Rob's training included joint degrees in marketing and Russian at the U of U, an MBA from Thunderbird, time in DC developing foreign-sourcing proposals for the Senate Energy Committee, and work overseas.
After interviewing with global finance firms in New York, Rob realized that his heart was in striking his own path as an entrepreneur. Instead of taking the traditional track with an established firm, he moved his family to Minnesota to work closely with an investor who helped him launch Blueline. Rob has since started other businesses and plans to continue doing more.
Rob continually asks himself, "how can I leverage technology to make something easier?" He sees answers to this question everywhere, and laments, "there are so many cool ways to make money with new ideas, but so little time."
He challenged our Students to continually ask the key question in considering their businesses and nonprofits: "is your idea sustainable." He also encouraged them never to fear making mistakes. Making mistakes is simply part of the necessary process required to get an idea to market.
Soapbox:
Parents, please watch the Systems Story video. It is short, only 4 minutes long. You'll love it. It applies systems thinking to relationships and family life.
Challenge:
The challenge this week is to apply methods of systems thinking and collaborative visualization to any aspect of your business. These tools have powerful application.
Call Outs:
Thomas brought in his latest cactus juice recipe to class for taste testing and public feedback. Everyone loved it, and nobody died. Great application of basic marketing research principles, Thomas!
Next Week:
We will study leadership next week and prepare to launch our business / nonprofit offerings. Next Saturday, Nov. 14, is the Utah Junior Entrepreneurs Fair. Be there early to set up. The fair is open to the public from 9:00 - 11:30 a.m. Please come and support our Students.
Representatives from the University of Utah's Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute will be at the fair to review our Student's work.
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