Professor’s anecdotal “challenge” story involving students contacting high‑profile figures

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. —LEWIS CARROLL, Alice in Wonderland The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Maxims for Revolutionists SPRING 2005 / PRINCETON , NEW JERSEY I had to bribe them. What other choice did I have? They formed a circle around me, and, while the names differed, the question was one and the same: “What’s the challenge?” All eyes were on me. My lecture at Princeton University had just ended with excitement and enthusiasm. At the same time, I knew that most students would go out and promptly do the opposite of what I preached. Most of them would be putting in 80-hour weeks as high-paid coffee fetchers unless I showed that the principles from class could actually be applied. Hence the challenge. I was offering a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world to anyone who could complete an undefined “challenge” in the most impressive fashion possible. Results plus style. I told them to meet me after class if interested, and here they were, nearly 20 out of 60 students. The task was designed to test their comfort zones while forcing them to use some of the tactics I teach. It was simplicity itself: Contact three seemingly impossible-to-reach people—J.Lo, Bill Clinton, J. D. Salinger, I don’t care—and get at least one to reply to three questions. Of 20 students, all frothing at the mouth to win a free spin across the globe, how many completed the challenge? Exactly ... none. Not a one. There were many excuses: “It’s not that easy to get someone to ...” “I have a big paper due, and ...” “IT would love to, but there’s no way I can....” There was but one real reason, however, repeated over and over again in different words: It was a difficult challenge, perhaps impossible, and the other students would outdo them. Since all of them overestimated the competition, no one even showed up. According to the rules I had set, if someone had sent me no more than an illegible one-paragraph response, I would have been obligated to give them the prize. This result both fascinated and depressed me. The following year, the outcome was quite different. I told the above cautionary tale and 6 out of 17 finished the challenge in less than 48 hours. Was the second class better’? No. In fact, there were more capable students in the first class, but they did nothing. Firepower up the wazoo and no trigger finger. The second group just embraced what I told them before they started, which was ... Doing the Unrealistic Is Easier Than Doing the Realistic HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013829