“The Fairer Sex” Plus Fair Turn About Equals Far More Than Just Fair Results!!
Some learning experiences are dearer than others. And some speak in spades. I’m hard-pressed to recall an example of a breakthrough learning experience that speaks more clearly or dearly than one just reported by one of my long-time associates.
She’s currently teaching management and thinking skills in a university in a Middle Eastern country. In class the other day, she put four of her grad students—two men and two women—to work on a day-long online business simulation. The men insisted on working alone. When they came in 76th in the world in the online competition, they were thrilled with the outcome.
Not good enough, said their professor. They had to learn to work on these kinds of “team” problems with women, too, she told them.
“They spent several hours arguing and discussing and going through several scenarios and mental models,” my friend notes. To her surprise, they ended up going with one of the women’s recommendations.
The result: the mixed-gender team’s results ranked No. 3 in the world!
It’s only one miniscule step in this highly traditional Islamic country’s march to modernity, but my colleague says the look on her students’ faces testified to the moment’s importance in their personal experience.
“The men looked shell-shocked,” she says.
And the women?
“They were beaming.”
