Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/52321
State key message: Having made a complete revolution of the Clock- wise chart, students now must identify its key message and place this at the center. This exercise is often far from straightforward. Students must look at the bullet points on their chart from the right distance, where a coherent picture of the whole comes into view. Stage 2: Group Work When students share their charts with their peers, they're amazed at how different other interpretations are from their own. They also real- ize the value of sharing their view- points and collaborating to create "composite" Clockwise charts. Too often, they have been trained to value individual achievement. Creating composite charts shows them how different people can put their heads together to create a more comprehensive understand- ing of an issue or problem. We create up to six composite charts on three large whiteboards in the classroom. The main tasks are to agree on the key points to be extracted from the source material, exhaust the critiques and connections, and decide on the central message. My role is to lead the discus- sion. If the situation warrants it, I'll introduce related theory: For example, if the topic is sustain- ability, I might mention Michael Crooke's SEER model, with its four cornerstones of the sustain- able business. My goal is to re inforce the point that theory has practical value. Stage 3: Pattern Seeking The mathematician Marcus du Sautoy told the FT about the 46 January/February 2012 BizEd dopamine rush he gets from that "Aha!" moment when things fit together. "The brain is pro- grammed to look for patterns—it's how we know something is sig- nificant," he explained. He added that we all need to feel that we're contributing to a community to validate what we do. Stage 3 of the Clockwise method, when stu- dents make connections between different charts, is about just that: pattern-seeking in a community. For example, in one MBA cap- stone course, we were discussing four composite charts, based on an 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 with something else already there. article on the importance of tell- ing a good story by Peter Guber, producer of the movie Rain Man; a case study of the Procter & Gamble Dry Max diaper debacle; an article on the value of hiring a public rela- tions professional; and a bio of Gary Vaynerchuck, an entrepreneur who has become a wine guru for the Internet generation. Connecting the dots, students saw how influential bloggers told stories to encourage customers to turn against P&G, and how the company hired a top PR firm to counteract the negative buzz. Reading the bio, they also saw how Vaynerchuck has benefited from doing his own PR, spending years cultivating an online community. In another class, students dis- cussed charts regarding the down- side to being a disruptive entre- preneur, the personal traits that separate winners from losers, the criteria for evaluating investment opportunities, and the transition from entrepreneur to professional management. Students saw how the article on disruptive entrepre- neurs illustrated the winning trait of being able to bounce back from disappointments. Having gained a better appreciation of what it takes to succeed, students under- stood why it is so difficult to let go. Then, the discussion went in mul- tiple directions. "Isn't it possible to let go without actually relinquish- it connect