Digital Frontiers

Earlier this week I felt like a modern day MacGyver while trying to tackle this challenge as part of my latest class assignment: create as much value as possible using only Post-it notes. The end result was a social awareness campaign focused on getting donations for the Red Cross to support their Haiti Relief Campaign.

Post-its at work

The process that led to this result was sporadic, and far from scientific. The team threw out ideas as they came; some ideas were considered, some were immediately rejected. Our primary obstacle was deciding our definition of “value,” since value is so subjective. One man’s trash is indeed another man’s treasure. It was obvious that the actual Post-it, a simple piece of yellow paper, wasn’t worth very much. We decided it would be too difficult to convince people otherwise, that the physical piece of paper had great monetary value. Instead we decided to create social value by making the post-it represent something important and valuable: human welfare.

Armed with post-its, video cameras, a few hours time and a mission, our class employed unconvential means to make the front page of the newspaper, raise hundreds of dollars, and make people take notice of many pressing issues. This is the epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit. I can only imagine what else can be achieved with common things and a little MacGyver thinking? Who needs expensive commercials and elaborate marketing campaigns when you have a pack of playing cards and a stick of gum at your disposal? What heights can be reached with a rubber band, a turkey baster, and a pack of ice? How can you change the world with a DVD player, a diaper, and a paperback copy of “The Taming of the Shrew”? Anything is possible, if you stop and ask yourself: What Would MacGyver Do?

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