WELCOME TO THE SORT TASK CHALLENGE
Over the last 10 years, we've asked hundreds of people to take the Sort Task Challenge. We originally designed this task because we were curious about how well students, teachers, and academics understand how thinking develops over the course of the life span. These groups are pretty good at the task; now we'd like to know how other people solve the sort task. So, if you are old enough to understand the instructions, we invite you take the Sort Task Challenge.
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To complete this task, you will sort the following statements. If you want to print them out so you can cut them apart and sort them by hand (recommended), download the printable version.
| Letter | Statement |
a |
A good leader is someone who really knows his stuff—is really an expert—and also knows how to get other people to do their best, with decent bonuses for people who are the most productive. |
b |
A good leader knows how to balance the needs of the company with the needs of employees. A good leader can find an optimal solution by listening to all perspectives and weighing alternatives. |
c |
A good leader understands her organization’s system. She knows all of the people in an organization are part of that system. The best way to keep the system healthy is to get everyone on the same page. This means lots of dialogue, openness. |
d |
A good leader is a highly knowledgeable and enormously competent servant to his or her organization, which he or she sees as a complex web of human beings, whose activities are all directed toward the same, mutually beneficial, goal. |
e |
[What makes a good leader?] Like follow-the leader. I like follow-the-leader. [What does a good leader in follow-the-leader do?] Gives you a turn. [Why is that good?] I like to be the leader. [What do you like about being the leader?] I get to go first. |
f |
[What makes a good leader?] You mean like my coach? [Yes, is your coach a good leader?] Yes. Mostly. [What makes her a good leader?] She’s really a good athlete and she bosses us around just the right amount. |
g |
A good leader can look beyond the present or a particular problem to see events from a broad, almost global, perspective. He or she can “stand outside” of the system to view a problem from multiple perspectives. |
h |
[What makes a good leader?] I have a good Wilderness Club leader. [What makes him a good leader?] He’s really nice. He takes us camping and we do fun stuff. I got two new badges, and I learned how to tie some cool knots. |
i |
A good leader knows how to work with people, not just tell people what to do. This means he has to understand what makes different people tick, so he can help them do their best. There’s a lot of give-and-take. |
j |
A good leader always tells the truth and has strong values. She always does what she says she will do so that people will trust her. People like a leader they can trust like that. |
Instructions
All of the above statements were made by the same person between the ages of 4 and 45. If you have printed out the statements as recommended, take a few minutes to physically sort them into the order in which you think it would have been possible for this person to have made each statement. (Please reread the last sentence to make sure you understand the task.) In the form below, enter the letter of the statement you think is most likely to have been made at each age. Use each letter only once.