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ing control?" asked one student, pointing out that Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, empowers his CEOs by making them owner-managers, yet remains chairman of the board. The more dissimilar the articles, the harder students must work to make connections. That's why the choice of articles in any given class is crucial. If all the articles are about entrepreneurship, students will find it easy to make connec- tions. By combining articles from different functional areas, indus- tries, and cultures, I force students to cross more boundaries—in fact, after one challenging class, one student declared, "My head hurts." The work may be challenging, but it offers great rewards, not least of which is a sense of ownership in the learning process. Surprising Results As William James once observed, when we wish to fix a new thing in either our own mind or another's, our goal should be not so much to impress and retain it as to connect it with something else already there. "The connecting is the thinking; and, if we attend clearly to the con- nection, the connected thing will certainly be likely to remain within recall," he said. Clockwise inspires that process. It always surprises me that students continue to bring up certain issues from week to week, even when we're discussing com- pletely different subject matter. After a semester of working with Clockwise charts, students in the MBA capstone course are more than prepared to write their final term papers, where they are encouraged to explore a specific issue or ques- tion. A former banker, for example, discussed the idea of power, which had cropped up in many of our class discussions. A former professional poker player explored the hypoth- esis that true creativity in business is impossible without risk. Their papers are enriched by their new ability to assimilate information, evaluate the merits of ideas, and connect ideas to a larger range of theoretical and practical content. A growing number of my students are using the method in other classes. Nurturing "T-Shaped" Thinkers Tim Brown, CEO of the design consultancy firm IDEO, has talked extensively about how his com- pany looks for T-shaped people "who specialize in a single field, such as mechanical engineering or industrial design, but who also are able to branch out into other skills such as anthropology and do them well." These individuals, he says, can see the world from different perspectives and recognize patterns in human behavior that lead to more creative ideas. I can prove to students that they're more T-shaped at the end of the course than they were at the beginning, simply by asking them to repeat three charts they did at the start of the course. When they compare their later versions with the originals, they see that the new charts are radically different. After they've produced and worked on 70 to 100 charts over the course of the semester, students approach the same subject matter with a perspective that's far wider and deeper than they did when they were Clockwise neophytes. We are currently exploring how we can leverage technology and social media to enhance the Clockwise method. The Clockwise protocol relies heavily on class participation, but because some people are uncomfortable express- ing ideas in public, social media might level the playing field and encourage greater participation from all. Ultimately, the value of Clock- wise will depend on the method's impact on students' work after graduation—that's too early to tell. But we are now in the process of creating a Clockwise commu- nity to track its use in practice. Meanwhile, I am working closely with Bob Hein, former CFO of Airbus North America and senior executive counselor at Byrd, to develop a Clockwise application for the boardroom. Giles Jackson is associate professor, director of internships, and chair of the management science division at Shenandoah University's Byrd School of Business in Winchester, Virginia. He is also president of GenEd LLC, which develops innovative pedagogies. BizEd January/February 2012 47 UPPERCUT/GLOW IMAGES