In this activity, I put the class into pairs. I begin by telling the group You and your partner have been on a cruise. Unfortunately, the ship sank. Fortunately, the two of you survived and have made it to an island. Unfortunately, it is a deserted island. Fortunately, you are both alive. Unfortunately, one of you is blind and one of you is paralyzed from the neck down. At this point, I have one of each pair don the bandanna over their eyes for the remainder of the exercise. I have the other person sit on their hands, checking to make sure that everyone does this. I then continue by saying As survival experts agree, one of the most critical things you must do to survive is have access to water. Unfortunately, the only water available is the miles of undrinkable salt water. The good news is that there are rain clouds moving in. Unfortunately, you have nothing to catch the water in. As a pair, you will 5 minutes in which to construct a box or trough with the 5 pieces of cardboard and tape. The person who is paralyzed and can see will give directions to the person who is blind as to how to construct the box and lead them through the process. I then have them begin. As they build their boxes, I walk around the room, observing their discussions and their behaviors. As they work, I announce the time remaining about every 15-30 seconds, describing the wind howling as the rain clouds approach, the claps of thunder the pounding surf. In other words, I make the environment very tense and very loud, hard to hear. I do this throughout the 5 minutes with growing intensity. After five minutes I have them remove the blindfolds and see how everyone did. Most do not finish. One or teams will be very good, tight and sealed, some barely taped together, others hardly started. I ask the blind people how it felt to be blind, to count on someone else to show you the way, and to follow their instructions. I ask how many ignored the other person and did what they thought best. I ask the paralyzed people how it felt to sit helpless as they tried to tell the others what to do. How many tried to reach over and help with their hands? How many got confused on their right and the other persons right, etc. Then I asked about the noise I made. Most will say they wanted me to shut up and be quiet. I then relate it to the real world. The blind person is the employee that needs help. They know they need help, but often don't ask. And when someone does help, they sometimes ignore it or say, that's now how I do it. The paralyzed person is the trainer or consultant. They can see what needs to be changed very clearly, but have a hard time getting the person to see it through their eyes. And unfortunately, as much as they want to reach in and help, the person has to do it themselves in order to learn. You cant do it for them. And all the racket and commotion I make is the voice of reality. The phones keep ringing, deadlines keep coming, customers still call. You can't shut down the plant or take the week off to train. There is still work to do. The groups that remained focused on the box and not on me were the ones that got the job done. What concept did you get most from this activity? Where have you seen examples of this in your experience?