You Got Game

Entrepreneurs are finding new ways to use puzzles. Carole Berger, a management consultant with Ayers Group in New York City, has her client teams design prototypes of imaginary products using Tinkertoys. Other teams then attempt to reproduce the design based on a verbal description.

The exercise reinforces the need for simplicity in design, as well as sharp communication skills, Berger says. "It allows people to be creative and competitive with other people and [experience] relatively limited risk," she says. "It provides for complete and total involvement on everybody's part, and it's fun."

MDSI's Fall had so much fun using the giant jigsaw to build teamwork and communicate his marketing message, he plans to make puzzles part of the company's standard management toolkit. "The reaction was so positive," says Fall, "that we're asking how we can use puzzles again."

This article was originally published in the February 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: You Got Game.