Summer Undergraduate Research Program - Fred Hutchinson ...

Excerpt from The Last Lecture
Send Out Thin Mints
As part of my responsibilities, I used to be an academic reviewer . That meant I’d have to ask other
professors to read densely written research papers and review them . It could be tedious, sleep-inducing
work . So I came up with an idea . I’d send a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints with every paper that needed to be
reviewed . “Thank you for agreeing to do this,” I’d write . “The enclosed Thin Mints are your reward . But no
fair eating them until you review the paper .”
That put a smile on people’s faces . And I never had to call and nag them . They had the box of Thin Mints on
their desks . They knew what they had to do .
Sure, sometimes I had to send a reminder email . But when I’d ping people, all I needed was one sentence:
“Did you eat the Thin Mints yet?”
I’ve found Thin Mints are a great communication tool . They’re also a sweet reward for a job well done .
Source
• Pausch, Randy, and Jeffrey Zaslow . The Last Lecture. 1st ed . New York: Hyperion, 2008 .
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