From student to influencer and entrepreneur

Prof. Dr Georg Stadtmann sometimes pushes his students to their limits. "As an introvert, these kinds of challenges were terrifying. Talking to strangers, being silly on purpose, and presenting myself openly in front of others was way outside my comfort zone", says Viadrina student Lyubov Keniz. One of the seminar's tasks was to deliberately expose oneself to rejection in a 'Rejection Challenge'. For example, Lyubov Keniz asked a Deutsche Bahn employee for platform 9 ¾. When, after some confusion, he understood the Harry Potter joke, he laughed with the student. She captured the scene on video. Other students asked to be allowed to top their own pizza in the restaurant, sit in an excavator or record TikTok dances with complete strangers.

"Rejection is a daily reality in entrepreneurship. Whether it’s pitching to investors, negotiating with suppliers, or testing new markets - being told ‘no’ is part of the journey. We wanted our students to learn how to turn that ‘no’ into a learning experience," says economist Georg Stadtmann, explaining the reason why he included the challenge in the seminar he has been teaching for many years. With a TikTok video in which he himself plays the lead role dancing, the seminar also went viral with well over 120,000 likes.

Creative teaching is well received by the students

What looks like a lot of influencer fun at first glance is actually a great learning and life experience for his students. Student Roy Sand, who cut the meat for his kebab himself is grateful for the seminar challenge: "Professor Stadtmann teaches his students not just to memorise, but to understand in doing things. In small groups, we learn to take responsibility, present our ideas and accept constructive criticism. Students are virtually self-optimised here." Mika Rogowitz adds: "The seminar is a living example of how creative teaching, personal development and courage can work together."

One of the tasks was to sell something that didn't belong to you - without committing a crime, of course. Herman Muradian was one of those who showed creativity here, hiking to the Rauener Berge with his fellow students and selling the view from the observation tower for one euro each. More than just a funny business idea for the student: "For me as an international student, this hike was not only an experience of nature, but also a bridge between cultures - every step made prejudices diminish and ideas grow," says Herman Muradian. His next success: he managed to place an article about the hike and the seminar in the local newspaper Märkische Oderzeitung. That is also one of the tasks of the creativity seminar: to publish as many articles as possible in the media.

Anmol Ana Singh wrote for the school newspaper of her former school: "The course exemplifies the spirit of the Viadrina: cosmopolitan, unconventional and close to the students. It's all about developing problem-solving skills, teamwork and self-confidence." The students found out just how much these skills are in demand in the working environment in the final assignment: in regional companies and organisations, they taught the newly acquired creativity techniques using real challenges in the companies. The workshops at IMD Labor Frankfurt, Diakonissenhaus Teltow, Studierendenwerk Ost:Brandenburg, wood-based materials manufacturer Sonae Arauco in Beeskow and Unitechnik Automatisierungs GmbH in Eisenhüttenstadt were implemented in cooperation with the Centre for Knowledge and Technology Transfer at the Viadrina.

Many students remember Georg Stadtmann's creativity seminar as particularly exciting and unconventional teaching. Anmol Ana Singh summarises her experience: "I would never have thought that a university course could teach me so much about life," says the student looking back. "But that's exactly what this course did."