Just say Yes, And

How much money can you make with $5 and 90 minutes?

That’s one of the first challenges I give my negotiation students.  But I’ll be honest.  I stole this exercise from Stanford University.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Tina Seelig!  I hope she agrees.  

I gave my students envelopes with $5 and challenged them to make as much money as they could in 90 minutes.  

One group lost money. 

The 2nd made $60

The 3rd made $200

And the 4th made a whopping $1500… and got us in trouble with Harvard!

So what happened?  Well, the big money makers decided to throw a party and pre-sell tickets. Advertising a party that may venture into law-breaking (perhaps with alcohol and underage attendees) is never a good idea!   We apologized – saying we were proud of the ingenuity – but we understood the legality concerns.

The best ideas recognized the value of connections. They never even opened the envelope; $5 is not enough to buy someone a cup of coffee. (After the first group, I was afraid I would have to dip into my own pocket to buy my honey halva latte.)  They had flyers made for free and posted them around campus. They were able to presell tickets to the staggering amount of $1500 (and counting!) so there is clearly money to be made from bringing people together.   

The students were amazed at the response – they didn’t think people would pay for what they were offering. I was not surprised. We know people spend thousands of dollars to attend industry conferences and networking events.  A recent entrepreneurship conference cost over $2K for one ticket!  It didn’t include food or lodging or even a roller coaster ride!  (I did get 2 drink tickets).    

The value of human connection is clearly a need now more than ever before.  These students recognized that just using the $5 wouldn’t get them far.  But the promise of meeting new friends, business contacts, and maybe even finding love in summer school is priceless.   

…And if you were wondering… the group that made the least amount of money used AI for ideas on what to do. 🙄  In case you needed another reminder that AI shouldn’t replace human connection, or (human) brain power.  Also another reason why I’m writing my book on how to build connection… posts with tips coming.

my >$5 coffee after class! ($7.65 for honey halva latte – thanks to @pallavi singh for the intro; thanks @tatte for the new heavenly coffee addiction.)