The Tale of Business Model Generation Block

Once upon a time, or rather less than a week ago, I embarked on Seth Godin’s altMBA program. Thirteen prompts in thirty days. Shipping on prompt 1 already challenged my safety rule. Do the right thing instead of not making a mistake. Just a foretaste of what was to follow, though.

Competitiveness. Expertise. Professionalism. Seriousness. Dedication.

A team of four to develop 99 business models. 24.25 business models per person. How brave to leave it all open until 6 hours before the deadline.

And then: BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION BLOCK!

Very first time for everybody. What’s the cure? None of the previous manifestations of a successful career helped. Reliance on a positive attitude and the resulting group atmosphere as treatment of last resort… plus a bit of magic!

Game. Snack. Endurance.

The team delivered. On time. Six hours of video conference. Thanks to a late-night snack nobody hit a wall. Endurance.

And the magic? Playing cards.

Nicely illustrated business model pattern cards shown on camera to all other group members got the team started and going. Smiling. Laughing. Shipping. Relief. Pride. Sleeping.

And they all lived happyily ever after.