Teamwork, a marshmallow, and the W. P. Carey EMBA

How hard could it be? You’re given 20 sticks of spaghetti, three feet of string and tape, and 18 minutes to crown a free-standing structure with one delicious marshmallow. Turns out, the Marshmallow Challenge isn’t as easy as it sounds.

How hard could it be? You’re given 20 sticks of spaghetti, three feet of string and tape, and 18 minutes to crown a free-standing structure with one delicious marshmallow. Turns out, the Marshmallow Challenge isn’t as easy as it sounds.

At W. P. Carey Executive MBA orientation, professor Joan Brett uses the challenge as a metaphor for teamwork. To make it work means communication, quick thinking, and plenty of trust. “The assumption is that marshmallows are light and easily supported; in reality the marshmallows are not light for the spaghetti,” Brett explains. “The lesson for effective innovation and teamwork is that we need to identify the assumptions in our projects — customer needs, cost of the product — and test them early and often.”

Putting teamwork to the test

In addition to being a fast-paced (if sometimes frustrating) 18 minutes, the Marshmallow Challenge is also a fun introduction to future teammates in the EMBA program.

Teamwork is a hallmark of the W. P. Carey MBA, not only because that’s how the real world works, but also because learning from the experiences of others makes you a more well-rounded leader after you complete the program. At the W. P. Carey School, class sizes are small enough to facilitate meaningful team-based learning experiences from the day you begin your MBA.

Chris Kearney, CIO of TruWest Credit Union, echoes the importance of teamwork in the earliest stages of the program. “Our team was made up of a physician, a marketer, a technology manager and a guy who launches rockets for a living! The challenge helped take us out of those roles and set our mind to a common purpose.”

“We had a spectacular design that stood up for about a tenth of a second,” jokes Chris about his team’s finished product. “The big takeaway for me was that we need to iterate through our work, testing out new ideas along the way.”

Lessons learned

Even though her team didn’t win, Julie Jones, VP of enterprise strategic planning at Avnet, says that’s not really the point. ”For me, this challenge was about learning,” she points out. “I might not always win by getting an 'A+' in the EMBA program, but as long as I know that I tried my best, made the most of the learning experience, and worked well with my classmates and professors, that's how I will win.”

In only a few minutes, even before classes begin, W. P. Carey EMBA students find strengths and areas of opportunity, exercise their communication skills, and start developing the shorthand of teamwork they’ll use throughout the two-year program, as well as in their own careers.

That’s one impressive marshmallow.

Take the next step

Learn more about the highly ranked W. P. Carey Executive MBA, and find out what it takes to apply.